San Jose State water polo player Mariken Pardon is accompanied by Guy Morgan on a boat during the Catalina Channel night swim (Photo by Paula Selby)
By Emma Yuan (@emthereporter) — Reporter
She’s a sunny, bright person. Heavily freckled and not someone who you would expect to be willing to swim over 20 miles in the dark in the ocean. Her name is Maiken Pardon, an 18-year-old woman in STEM.
“[Pardon’s] a go-getter. She’s down to earth,” said SJSU water polo head coach Beth Harberts. Pardon (No.5) joined the SJSU water polo team as a freshman in 2021, scoring her first goal for the team in the season opener against UC Santa Barbara, according to Spartan Athletics.
“It started in lockdown,” Pardon said. “In order to keep up with training, the solution was to swim in the ocean.” Sometimes she would swim up to 2.6 miles every day.
“It helps with endurance and conditioning, helping us so we can go longer,” Pardon explained. “The swim strokes are similar but choppier because of the ocean conditions.”
Being from Manhattan Beach, Calif., she was used to interacting with the ocean. “You can see two piers, it’s not as deep as the relay,” Pardon said. “You can see stingrays. One day I saw thirty lobsters.”
Eventually John York convinced, along with Pardon, Dylan Davidoff and three others to swim in a relay across the Catalina Channel. Each swimmer would solo swim a section before high fiving to rotate swimmers. When they swam together during the summer, there would be pods of dolphins alongside them, hence choosing the Laughing Dolphins name for the relay team.
This wasn’t Pardon’s first time swimming such a long distance. She had done a previous 10k marathon, staying fueled with drinks and protein snacks that tasted like chocolate.
“We practiced a bunch of hours,” Pardon explained. “If we didn’t keep up my endurance I wouldn’t be able to do that.”
Right after moving into the dorms at SJSU, Pardon drove all the way back down south to begin the Catalina Channel relay swim.
She had the honor of being the first swimmer in the relay, diving into the ocean at Catalina Island, swimming toward San Pedro on the mainland. “There were supposed to be two teams but because of COVID-19, it ended up being only me,” Pardon said.
Even though she was the only one swimming in the dark water, she wasn’t alone. The rest of the relay team followed along on a boat, the Bottom Scratcher, along with observers paddling along in a kayak.
According to the Surfside Swim Team Facebook page, Krista Anderson, Catalina Channel solo swimmer and former Surfside swimmer, was crew chief. Guy Morgan and Linda Simons, also Catalina Channel solo swimmers, were support paddlers. “Paula Selby and Nancy Greenblat were on board the Bottom Scratcher as Catalina Channel Swimming Federation observers.”
“I was nervous going into the swim. Catalina has sharks. The water is pitch black,” Pardon exclaimed. “You don’t know what’s under you. It can be scary at times, you’ll be fine. Just push yourself and do it.”
The six swimmers rotated who was in the water, measuring their relay not by distance, but time.
“You’d get in [the water] for an hour and you’d high-five and they’d get onto the boat,” Pardon said.
At the end of the relay, the whole team jumped in and swam with the person leading the last leg.
“Pods of dolphins appeared as they approached the mainland, and a small, curious shark swam by during Dylan’s leg, which he thought was pretty cool!” according to the Surfside swim team Facebook page.
Pardon now has a small rock to mark the occasion. “It’s one of the traditions of the Catalina swims. You pick up a rock where you finish [the swim],” Pardon said.
The organization overseeing their channel swim released a statement. “Catalina Channel Swimming Federation congratulates relay team Laughing Dolphins on their successful swim across the Catalina Channel Aug. 16-17 in the unofficial time of 10:54:26,” said the Surfside swim team Facebook page.
After finishing the relay, Pardon drove right back to San Jose State, where she’s ready to get into being an engineering major. She’s said she’s looking forward to being able to create stuff with science and math and to do projects hands-on.
If she can participate in crossing 20 miles of the ocean, surely she can do anything else she sets her mind to.