Los Banos teen becomes youngest person to complete Lake Tahoe Triple Crown
James Savage, a 14-year-old from Los Banos, boasts a long list of swimming accomplishments.
In 2019, Savage became the the first documented swimmer to swim across the San Luis Reservoir. It was a 7.3-mile swim that took him more than five hours.
The open water marathon swimmer’s resume also includes swimming from San Francisco to Alcatraz seven times, swimming the length of the Golden Gate Bridge four times and other open water swims in San Diego and Lake Tahoe.
The Los Banos High School sophomore recently added another achievement to the list.
Savage became the youngest person to swim the length of Lake Tahoe, swimming from Camp Richardson in South Lake Tahoe to the Hyatt Regency in Incline Village, Nevada. He finished the 21.3-mile swim on Aug. 1 in 11 hours and 53 minutes.
In doing so, Savage became the youngest swimmer to achieve the Lake Tahoe Triple Crown, which is made up of three swims across the lake.
“It means a lot to finally complete the Tahoe Triple Crown,” Savage said. “I’ve done every swim in Lake Tahoe, finally.”
Savage completed the Viking Swim, a 10.5-mile route from Cave Rock into Emerald Bay when he was 12. When he was 13, he completed the Godfather swim, a 12-mile crossing from Cave Rock to Homewood, on the west shore of Lake Tahoe, to the mansion that was used to film Godfather II.
Unlike previous feats, he started this latest swim at 12:04 a.m.
“Half of the swim was done in the dark,” Savage said. “The toughest challenge was seeing the end. You could see it and it looked really close, but it was really 10 miles away.”
Savage began training for his latest challenge in May. As for the nearly 12-hour swim, Savage said it wasn’t so bad.
“It actually was easier than I thought it would be,” Savage said. “I thought it would be a lot more painful on my arms and legs. I was mentally prepared for it to be tougher.”
Savage says he celebrated his accomplishment with his family and support team, who were close by during his swim in boats and kayaks, by eating pizza and drinking soda on the beach.
Savage says he doesn’t know what his next swim challenge will be.
This story was originally published August 4, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
