Los Angeles Lifeguard Completes 10-Hour Swim From Catalina to Palos Verdes

LOS ANGELES, CA — A Culver City native completed an arduous 10-hour swim this weekend across the Catalina Channel from Catalina Island to Palos Verdes.

Abby Bergman, 20, completed the more than 20 miles swim on Sunday, the first of a series of marathon swim she's planning on accomplishing.

"It was incredible, scary, amazing and really difficult, but I'm glad I did it," she told CBS 2 News.

The swim was a difficult one. Bergman faced sharks, jellyfishes and sudden changes in the water temperatures.

The Smith College junior, who is studying neuroscience as a premed student in Northampton, Massachusetts, has been training for this swim in the Los Angeles area since May.

Bergman was very familiar with the waters in the Southland. She's an open water lifeguardfor the city of Los Angeles at Cabrillo Beach during her summer vacations from school.

She plans on swimming the English Channel in 2017.

— Story written by Alexander Nguyen; Photo courtesy of Abby Bergman