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Swimmer dives right in … with the sharks

SWIMMING

Posted 3/2/21

Kathleen O’Brien-Lawrence was a member of the Sun City Starr’s swim team for many years and captured more than 100 medals for coach John Jorgensen. She was also a gold medalist at the …

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Swimmer dives right in … with the sharks

SWIMMING

Posted

Kathleen O’Brien-Lawrence was a member of the Sun City Starr’s swim team for many years and captured more than 100 medals for coach John Jorgensen. She was also a gold medalist at the Arizona Senior Olympics and gold medalist for the USMS.

For her 65th birthday, she swam from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco Bay to bring awareness to drowning prevention. She also hosted fundraisers in the West Valley and throughout the United States with her 100mi swims as Grannie Gatorhead.

Ms. O’Brien-Lawrence still swims long distance, open-water swims and on Feb. 16, for her 77th birthday, she flew to La Paz, Mexico and went on to the Sea of Cortez.

There she encountered the whale shark, the largest invertebrate in the world.

“I had seen them before,” she stated, “but never swam with them as I was not the endurance swimmer I am now. They swim fairly fast to feed, so you must keep up with them. Snorkel mask only and fins. No scuba. They swim somewhat close to the surface, so I was able to get in about an hour’s swim with one. I tried not to smack him/her with my fins when they got closer to me.

Ms. O’Brien-Lawrence says she still has a few more adventures on her bucket list. 

Swim, shark, Sun City