Two Lake Forest High School students swim eight miles to aid wounded veterans

• Reprints

Updated: November 3, 2011 10:31AM

Two members of the Lake Forest High School swim team dove into a challenge this month as they participated in an eight-mile open swim across Lake Geneva in Wisconsin.

Colin Rowe and Peter McCormick, incoming juniors at LFHS, joined about 25 other swimmers on Aug. 7 in the 3rd annual Swim For Freedom. All proceeds from the race went to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, an organization that helps financially support wounded military members and families of those who have died during the wars.

The race is organized by Steele Whowell, owner of Gordy’s Boat House Restaurant in Wisconsin, where Rowe worked over the summer. After hearing about the race from his boss, Rowe decided to get involved and asked McCormick to join him in the challenge.

“It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” said McCormick, who is used to tough workouts from his years as a swimmer. “It was ridiculous. It was four hours straight swimming.”

‘Really rewarding’

Toward the end of the eight-mile swim McCormick said he was feeling a little light-headed, but he didn’t mind.

“It was really rewarding to be a part of that charity and it felt good doing it,” he said.

Though the race started at 6 a.m., McCormick said that as the day went on the tide and waves made for a bumpy swim compared to team practices in an indoor pool.

“We’re trained physically to be able to do this kind of thing, but we do maybe four miles in a practice, not eight,” McCormick said. “It didn’t expect it to be as hard as it actually was.”

Although the race was difficult, keeping the cause in mind was a good way for Rowe and McCormick to stay focused on reaching the end.

‘Meant a lot’

“It was long, but in the end we knew we had to finish it,” Rowe said. “It meant a lot to the families, and if we can get more people involved, we can raise more money for them.”

The boys finished eight miles in 4 hours and 20 minutes, and although their goal was just to finish, next year they’re hoping for a faster time.

Rowe and McCormick are already looking ahead to next year, when they are planning to get more of the Lake Forest swim team involved in the charity swim.

“It is for people who fought, risked their life and may have died for their country,” Rowe said. “So the least we can do is swim.”