Mercer Island girls swim around island, raise money for Children's Hospital

For some, finishing high school means sweating advanced algebra. But for two Mercer Island girls, it meant swimming around their home city aided only by wet suits and flippers.

At about 10 a.m. Monday, two yellow swim caps appeared below the Interstate 90 bridge. Sara Markwith and Rachel Godfred, both 17, were closing in on the last third of their journey — pressing against the wind and battling chop on a rainy Lake Washington to make the 14.6-mile swim.

"A wave goes right in your face when you're trying to take a breath," Markwith said during a snack break on a trailing boat.

The teens, incoming seniors at Mercer Island High School, undertook the feat as part of their "culminating project" to graduate. They asked friends and family for donations before Monday's swim, and they raised $3,000 for Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center in Seattle.

Students typically devise projects aligned with their interests, the teens said, and swimming is definitely their passion. The friends began swimming as young girls and now swim three hours a day, seven days a week throughout most the year.

They will co-captain the school's varsity swim team in the upcoming season.

They both come from families with serious athletic inclinations: Markwith's 65-year-old grandmother regularly competes in triathlons and marathons. Godfred's mother, Alice, was a professional triathlete, and her father, Gordon, has competed in several triathlons. In a couple of weeks, Gordon Godfred is going to climb Mount Everest; his goal is to reach the highest base camp.

The girls dove off the dock at Godfred's home on the west side of the island at 6:15 a.m. Monday. They clambered back ashore at 12:45 p.m., 6-½ hours later — a pace of about 2-¼ miles per hour.

Alice Godfred stuck close on a personal watercraft throughout. She coaches swimming at King Aquatics, the club the girls swim for year-round.

Sara's father, Jim Markwith, and Gordon Godfred trailed in a power boat carrying snacks, water and Gatorade for their daughters. The girls stayed in the water except for short breaks to eat and drink.

"I think it's really cool," Rachel Godfred said. "Not many people can say they've swam around Mercer Island."

Godfred said she knew of only two other swimmers who'd lapped the island, both male.

Numb and aching, the teens closed in on the Godfreds' dock early Monday afternoon. Once ashore, they headed straight for the hot tub. Godfred's ankles hurt. Markwith was feeling it in her shoulders.

But tired bodies were no reflection of their spirits.

"I feel like we've really accomplished something that no other girl our age has done," Markwith said.

"I'm pretty proud of what we did today."

Leslie Anne Jones: 206-464-2745 or ljones@seattletimes.com