28 May Round Up: Spotlight: Just Keep Swimming

The boat launch on the northwest corner of Flathead Lake near Somers, Montana is a relatively quiet place. It’s quieter yet beneath a ceiling of heavy clouds and the kind of stillness that is to be expected once the throngs of lake lovers have turned in for the night. At 11:26 p.m. on July 18, 2025, the darkness here was interrupted only by the lights of the nearby parking lot, the green glow from freshly cracked glow sticks zip tied to a boat, and a blue safety light worn over the swim cap of Isabella “Bella” Seagrave. At 23 years old, Seagrave was decidedly calm for someone about to attempt what only eight other people had accomplished in documented human history: Swimming the length of the largest natural freshwater lake in the western United States. Her success would place her as the youngest person to accomplish such a feat. There was no fanfare, no media, no clever hashtags cued up and waiting for their Instagram debut. In fact, the only people that immediately knew what transpired were some family members at home and her five-person support crew that split time between a pontoon boat and a kayak.

Born in Bozeman and raised in Missoula, Seagrave’s first kicks and strokes came by crisscrossing her family’s hot tub before she knew how to walk. Swim lessons followed, as did joining the Missoula Aquatic Club at age 6 and competing by age 8. Becoming co-captain of her high school team and serving as an athlete representative to the Montana Swimming House of Delegates teed her up to earn a scholarship to Long Island University in Brooklyn, where she captained its Division 1 swim team while earning a degree in exercise science and wellness. The culmination of these experiences led her not only to the waters of Flathead but also to a genuine interest in the mechanics and limitations of the human body as well.

With goggles tightened and a fresh coat of Desitin applied to her body for glide and insulation, Seagrave waded into the surprisingly comfortable 68-degree water. The level rose from her ankles to her knees, then hips, then stomach and, at some point, her feet gave their last little push off the ground beneath her as she transitioned into her freestyle swim. Within seconds, the choreographed motions of stroke, stroke, kick, head tilt, breathe took over, and she was on her way, focused and in her happy place: the water. Her crew idled alongside, continuing to fumble with gear, lights, life jackets, and busy work that spoke more to their own nerves than necessity. While the outing promised to be the adventure of a lifetime, the collective jitters were palpable.

An endeavor like this isn’t simple, or simple to abandon: Regrouping at halftime or asking a coach to be subbed aren’t options. Drawing upon her disciplined physical training and her mental fortitude in the classroom and the water, Seagrave wasn’t intimidated by the challenge, despite this attempt being only her second long-distance, open-water swim.

The first? Well, that came only a month prior, during a four-hour training swim in Lake Coeur d’Alene with her coach, Monica Bender, whose mantra “just keep swimming” became imprinted in Seagrave’s mind.

While training and grit are essential, nothing could have prepared Seagrave for the realities of traversing 27.3 miles over the course of 17 hours, 36 minutes, and 57 seconds in the roiling, often white-capped waters of Flathead Lake. After a dark night, the morning dawned not with sunshine and hope but with gray clouds and wind. With more than 12 hours of hard-won progress behind her, Seagrave was met with a demoralizing wind-fueled pull backward at every forward stroke.

“While I was swimming, I thought a lot about what was going on internally,” Seagrave says after accomplishing her feat. “I learned a lot about myself and found a whole new level of respect and admiration for the body. Letting my mind wander to these thoughts really helped to carry me as I swam.”

A year has passed since Seagrave successfully completed the swim of Flathead Lake and walked out of the water — and into the history books — at Polson Bay at 5:03 p.m. on July 19. After a short-lived honeymoon, she is now drawing upon her accomplishment to guide her through a different kind of grueling feat that was partially inspired by the swim: physical therapy school at the University of Montana.

“PT school is really cool and, like swimming Flathead, it requires a lot of dogged pursuit,” says Seagrave. “In the lake, I learned a lot about myself. As a therapist, I hope to be the person who helps other people learn about themselves so they can experience satisfaction in even the small actions that, at some point, didn’t seem possible.”