Bay Area teen to swim 21.3 miles across Lake Tahoe

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - Angel More is missing the first two days of her junior year at Menlo High School, but there is a very good reason.

She'll be swimming 21.3 miles across Lake Tahoe.

The 15-year-old Bay Area resident is after the California Triple Crown of Marathon Swimming, and when she gets out of the water Saturday morning she'll be the youngest person to do so. Only ten people have completed the Triple Crown, the youngest of that group being a 38-year-old man.

When one reads the athletic feats of Angel they might think they're reading the biography and record book of a much older person.

The first two legs of the Triple Crown were in Southern California. She completed the 12 miles swim across the Santa Barbara Channel in 7.5 hours and swam the 20 miles across the Catalina Channel in 14.5 hours. Angel started swimming in open water just four years ago, at the age of 11. She has been to Alcatraz 51 times via the water, not on a tour boat like so many of us. The teen also excels on land. At the age of ten she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, and holds the record as the youngest girl to climb the highest point in Africa.

Angel has been in Lake Tahoe all week, getting her body acclimated to the altitude. She started off with a quick two-mile swim and has worked up her time in the lake each day.

"Lake Tahoe is different from the others," said Angel. "It is at altitude and in a lake, which isn't as buoyant as the ocean.

Angel isn't swimming across Lake Tahoe just for a record and triple crown, she is using the national attention to raise awareness of Children's International and her fundraising through them to help children across the globe.

The San Carlos, California teen has raised more than $40,000 for the charity to date, with more fundraising planned for the big swim from San Francisco to Alcatraz with other 14 other students in an event called “Escape From Alcatraz to Escape From Poverty.”

Angel has a "crowdrise" page to raise donations for Children's International as she said she didn't want to keep asking friends and family for the donations. "They provide the tools so kids can go to school worry free, then learn how work as a team and solve problems in their community. (see page here)

To prepare for the big evening, Angel will try to sleep during the day Friday, then arise and head to the lake. She'll cover her body with layers of Desitin to protect her skin from the sun and for the long, cold swim. Thursday night she stopped by Safeway to pick up the ingredients for "feeds" for the night of swimming. They will consist of bottles of smoothie with electrolites, handed to her on a rope from the accompanying boat.

Angel will be following marathon rules for her swim. Just a swimsuit and a cap and no touching or help by the kayak or boat.

On Friday, August 24 at 9:00 p.m., Angel will enter the lake at Camp Richardson. She'll have a person on a kayak staying near her, along with a boat, both which will be lit up with Christmas lights to guide them through the dark. She swims at night when water is calmer, and fewer people are out on the water. She also won't have to contend with afternoon waves common with the forecast breezes. Between 9:00 a.m. and noon Saturday, Angel expects to be pulling herself out of the water at the Hyatt Tahoe beach in Incline Village.

Besides her family, friends and the media will be waiting for her. She will be appearing on New Day on CNN Sunday morning and on “Michaela” Monday afternoon on CNN’s HLN station.

She'll get the Desitin off right away, dry off, take photos, give interviews and head home so she can prepare for her first day of school on Monday.

“All of us at Children International are so very grateful for Angel and every single person she inspires to help kids around the world break the cycle of poverty,” Children International Vice President of Philanthropy John Clause said in a release. “Young people with courage and determination can overcome seemingly impossible odds. Angel is proof of that.”