[2] McKendry grew up in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area, and was a Division I scholarship tennis player at Drexel University.
[3] Prior to joining ESPN, McKendry had been at WJLA-TV, ABC affiliate in Washington D.C., where she was a sports reporter.
She returned to SportsCenter later that year, co-hosting the weekend morning and weekday 6 p.m. editions of the network's flagship news and information program.
[3] She also served as a sports anchor/reporter at All-News Channel/Conus in Minneapolis (1993–1994), an update anchor for USA Network (1993–1994) and Newsport (1994) and as a producer for Fox News Service in Washington D.C.
[5] McKendry graduated from Archbishop Ryan High School and later attended Drexel University on a tennis scholarship.