Girls Rock - Maya Merhige

Maya Merhige is a 17-year-old marathon swimmer from California who wants to be youngest ever to complete the Oceans 7.

The Oceans 7 is a challenge that consists of 7 open water channel swims: the North Channel (between Ireland and Scotland), the Cook Strait (New Zealand), the Molokaʻi Channel (Hawai'i), the English Channel (between England and France), the Catalina Channel (California), the Tsugaru Strait (Japan) and the Strait of Gibraltar (between Spain and Morocco). It was created to be the swimming equivalent to the Seven Summits Challenge which is climbing the tallest peaks on all 7 continents.

But let's get back to Maya. She started open water swimming when she was just 9 years old and has been hooked ever since. Since then, she has been working with Swim Across America, raising money for pediatric cancer research along the way. She has raised almost 150,000 dollars since she has started. At age 14, Maya became the youngest woman to swim the Catalina channel, and at age 15 she became the youngest person to cross the Moloka'i Channel.

The swim that got me hooked on Maya's story was her swim across the Cook Strait. The Cook Strait connects the northern and southern islands in New Zealand. This is considered a pretty treacherous swim with unpredictable weather and lots of marine life. During her swim she battled upwards of 15 mph winds, 3-foot waves, cool temps, and thousands of jellyfish stings. Because of these hurdles, instead of finishing in the predicted 7 hours, she finished in 14 just days before her high school Senior Prom.

She has already finished the Catalina, Moloka'i, English, and Cook Straits; and she plans to finish the rest during her college career before the age of 20 to become the youngest to finish all 7. I will definitely be following along with her story, because she is the epitome of girls rock and doing it all for charity. Follow along with her journey on instagram - @chasing_channels

xoxo girls rock