Six teens to attempt swim from Catalina to Long Beach

If a group of Ramona teenagers is successful Aug. 4, a record set by six other teens this month won’t be the record for long.

On July 17, six teenage boys completed a 21-mile relay swim from Catalina Island to Long Beach. No six-person team of males under 20 had ever completed that swim before, so their time of 8:04 is the record.

“We’re going to try to beat their record,” said 17-year-old Bryan Larson, a Ramona High School incoming senior who is spearheading the Ramona effort.

The relay challenge had existed before the six boys in July became the first successful teenagers. Larson learned about it in January.

“It would be kind of fun to do it,” he said.

Larson is a member of Ramona High School’s swim team and also the Ramona Swim Team club program, both of which are coached by Jolyn Yanez. The relay effort is through the Ramona Swim Team entity, and Larson and Yanez put together a team of six swimmers.

Quintin LaRosa, 19, is the only one of the six who is no longer in high school.

Ethan Blackburn, Jacob Powers, Spencer Schwegler and Trevor White are the other four participants.

“A lot of kids were up for it,” Larson said, noting that the team also includes two alternates.

Jocelyn Schwegler is the only female and has also already graduated from high school. Jacob Pradels is expected to be on the Bulldogs’ swim team next year.

The team began training in May and trains two to three times a week at La Jolla Cove. Most of the training sessions have been three miles, although some have been four miles.

During the actual swim from Catalina to Long Beach, the swimmers will cover the distance in one-hour increments before the next relay participant takes over. The group spent July 4 competing in the Coronado Rough Water Swim and also competed in a Seal Beach ocean swim in late June.

Larson’s mother, Tammy, agreed to be in charge of fundraising.

“We’ve just had a lot of help from everybody, and it’s been awesome,” she said. “We’ve had so much support from the community.”

More than $6,000 has been raised to allow for matching outfits.

“If we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this right,” Tammy Larson said.

The swimmers will be picked up by boat on Aug. 3 and taken to Catalina.

The first swimmer will go into the water at midnight.

Four volunteers in a kayak will join the swimmers; the kayak and a fishing boat will direct swimmers to the proper destination.

The captain of the boat may call off the effort if conditions are too dangerous.

The swimmers are expecting conditions to be colder than the temperature to which they are accustomed. Ramona High School’s pool is heated to 82 degrees.

The ocean is expected to be between 66 and 68 degrees.

“I think it will be really cool to get the world record for it, and I think our team’s capable of doing it,” Bryan Larson said.