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On June 28, Oak Ridge swimmer Morgan Dodd made an escape from Alcatraz.

She, along with about 800 other swimmers, jumped into the frigid waters to make the swim to the San Francisco shore for the 16th annual Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim.

"It was cold," she said.

"The water was about 52 degrees."

Morgan learned about the open water swim from her childhood swim coach Frances McEachran , who also participated along with her daughter, Mary Parke .

"She talked me into doing it," Morgan said.

"They all said I was crazy," she said about her family and friends.

To participate, Morgan's mom insisted that she wear a wet suit. A ferry shuttled her and her fellow swimmers to the east side of the island where they jumped in by pairs to swim the mile-and-a- half back to shore.

"That's if you swim it in a straight line," she said.

"But there is no way you can swim it in a straight line."

Straight line or not, Morgan swam from Alactraz to San Francisco in 44 minutes 50 seconds. That time was good enough to clinch first place in her age group and 72nd overall.

Morgan has been swimming for seven years, but this was her first open water swim.

"I swam in some lakes to get used to not seeing the bottom," she said.

Another difference she had to overcome with converting from the pool to open water is having to swim against the current.

"That was more of a challenge than the distance was," she said.

She's been a swimmer with the Oak Ridge Swim Club, the Greensboro YMCA and is now swimming for Star Aquatics.

Contact Tiffany S. Jones at 449-4731 or tiffany.jones@news-record.com