{"id":5070,"date":"2026-07-21T11:34:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T11:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5070"},"modified":"2026-07-21T11:34:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T11:34:32","slug":"berkeley-teen-completes-21-mile-north-channel-swim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5070","title":{"rendered":"Berkeley teen completes 21-mile North Channel swim"},"content":{"rendered":"
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BERKELEY \u2014 For Berkeley native Maya Merhige, swimming is about exploration.<\/p>\n

After a 21.4-mile trek between Ireland and Scotland known as the North Channel on July 8, the 18-year-old ultramarathon swimmer is now celebrating her latest major challenge \u2013 one that took just over 12 hours to complete.<\/p>\n

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Merhige got her start in the water at a young age. Adamant that she would play some kind of sport, Merhige said her parents had her try everything. Swimming was the sport she hated least.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to have a tantrum when my parents would drive me to swim practice. I\u2019d hide in the locker room, and was known as a kid that had to be picked up because I would go hide,\u201d Merhige said.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until Merhige discovered open-water swimming, a sport her parents did for years, that she found her stride. Drawn in by the possibility of spotting whales, Merhige wanted to experience unique opportunities and explore nature and various cultures.<\/p>\n

The sport has taken her from the shores of San Francisco and Lake Tahoe to New Zealand and Manhattan, and enabled her to raise $172,000 for cancer research through the organization Swim Across America.<\/p>\n

Across hundreds of miles in total, Merhige has braved chilling temperatures, strong winds, powerful tides, close calls with sharks and countless jellyfish stings, and still she persisted.<\/p>\n

At 13, Merhige became the youngest woman to swim the width of Lake Tahoe. After later swimming the length and diagonal of the lake, she also became the youngest person to complete the Lake Tahoe Triple Crown.<\/p>\n

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By 15, Merhige became the youngest person to solo swim the Molokai Channel, a roughly 27-mile stretch between Hawaii\u2019s Oahu and Molokai islands. She still holds that record today, according to the Kaiwi Channel Association, the official group that governs the swim.<\/p>\n

The Molokai and North channels help make up the Oceans Seven, a collection of some of the most challenging open-water routes across the world. Merhige has swam five of the seven, including the Cook Strait and the Catalina and English channels.<\/p>\n

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She\u2019s scheduled to swim the sixth route, the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain to Morocco, in August, and plans to complete the last, Tsugaru Strait in Japan, in 2027.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s on track to becoming the youngest person in history to complete the Oceans Seven, a record currently held by fellow ultramarathon swimmer Caitlin O\u2019Reilly, who earned the achievement at 20 years old.<\/p>\n

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Outside the Oceans Seven, Merhige said she has a long list of other swim goals that inevitably grows anytime she finds herself near a new body of water.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a pretty driven person. I like having goals for myself,\u201d Merhige said. \u201cIt\u2019s not about doing harder swims each time. It\u2019s about wanting to travel to places and see the people there and what\u2019s there. Every swim is a different challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Merhige\u2019s ambitions extend beyond the water.<\/p>\n

The Georgetown University student is on a pre-med track, majoring in both sociology and psychology. Though her academics have always been a top priority, Merhige said she imagines she\u2019ll eventually put more of her focus toward her career.<\/p>\n

That balancing act is something she\u2019s already learning to master. For much of her first year in college, Merhige said she hardly found herself in the water, instead prioritizing school, friends and family time.<\/p>\n

In a sport where mental fortitude is vital, checking in with herself is second nature for Merhige and preventing burnout is a core objective. And while swimming is a beloved passion, it\u2019s not all she is, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do this because I love it. But it\u2019s a hobby,\u201d Merhige said. \u201cIt\u2019s made me who I am but it\u2019s not who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For Berkeley native Maya Merhige, swimming is about exploration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\nBerkeley teen completes 21-mile North Channel swim - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5070\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Berkeley teen completes 21-mile North Channel swim - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For Berkeley native Maya Merhige, swimming is about exploration.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=5070\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-21T11:34:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5070#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5070\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Berkeley teen completes 21-mile North Channel swim\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-21T11:34:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5070\"},\"wordCount\":674,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5070#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/08b9c85e241b73cf1de4349d72ee3995.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5070#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5070\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=5070\",\"name\":\"Berkeley teen completes 21-mile North Channel swim - 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