She did it! Swimmer conquers Lake Chelan

After 36 hours in the water, Kalispell swimmer Emily von Jentzen early Friday completed the first swim of the length of Lake Chelan in northern Washington.

According to an email from her brother Paul, von Jentzen finished the 55-mile swim at 3:51 a.m. Pacific time.

"I am incredibly proud, humbled, and inspired by my amazing little sister with her strength, determination, and enormous heart," he wrote. "Well done Emily."

The swim took a little longer than von Jentzen's estimate of 28 hours.

She added the Lake Chelan achievement to last year's top-to-bottom solo swim on Flathead Lake.

Von Jentzen launched her epic Lake Chelan swim on Wednesday afternoon and then spent the next day and half in the water.

According to an earlier email Thursday night from her brother:

"Earlier our niece Hannah Davis jumped in and swam alongside Em for a while which perked Em up a lot. And I just heard that little Katelyn is going to jump in for a dip as well."

Von Jentzen undertook the swimming challenge to raise money for Katelyn "KK Roker, a 5-year-old from Kalispell who is battling Stage 4 neuroblastoma, a high-risk cancer.

Lake Chelan is the third-deepest lake in America.

Her progress can be tracked online at:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0vhF4eMA2qDL9XZ8L7XQSGEEBuamVFtuK

To learn more about her effort and to donate to the fundraiser, "A Lakke for Katelyn," go to:

http://alakkeforkatelyn.blogspot.com/