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For some swimmers, the distance across Lake Conroe will be measured in miles.

For others, it will be measured in names — a spouse, a brother, a child or a parent whose experience with cancer brought them to the water in the first place.

That deeply personal side of the event will return to Montgomery on Saturday, Sept. 26, when the eighth annual Swim Across America – Houston Open Water Swim brings swimmers, volunteers, cancer patients, families and supporters to Margaritaville Lake Resort on Lake Conroe, located at 600 Margaritaville Parkway.

The Houston charity swim raises money for cancer research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, giving people across the Houston area a way to contribute to research while honoring families whose lives have been changed by cancer.

Official listings from both MD Anderson and U.S. Masters Swimming confirm the Sept. 26 Houston event will take place at Lake Conroe in Montgomery. A separate Swim Across America – Dallas event will be held the same day at Lake Ray Hubbard in Rockwall.

A Morning on Lake Conroe With a Much Bigger Purpose

Swimmers do not need to be elite athletes to participate in Swim Across America Houston 2026.

The Lake Conroe event includes half-mile, 1-mile and 2-mile open-water swims, along with a Kids' Splash for children ages 11 and younger. Those who cannot attend in person can participate through SAA My Way, which allows supporters to create their own activity and fundraising effort.

The morning begins with swimmer check-in from 7:15 to 8 a.m., followed by a welcome and “Why I Swim” speakers at 8:15 a.m. The Kids' Splash begins at 8:50 a.m., and the open-water swims start at 9 a.m., beginning with the two-mile swimmers, followed by the one-mile and half-mile distances. The swim course is scheduled to close at 11 a.m.

People can participate by swimming, volunteering on land or on the water, donating or supporting a swimmer or team.

Since the Houston event was established in 2019, organizers say Swim Across America – Houston has raised more than $625,000 for MD Anderson. The annual event has grown into a gathering of more than 250 swimmers, volunteers, spectators and supporters in some years, with Olympians also joining the effort.

For the people behind many of those fundraising totals, however, the reason for showing up is intensely personal.

For Andy Rieger, Swimming Became a Way to Remember — and Give Back

Andy Rieger, captain of Team Rieger, already had a long relationship with swimming before cancer entered his family's story.

He grew up as a competitive swimmer and later captained the swim team at West Point. After spending decades away from competitive swimming, he eventually returned to the sport as an adult and moved into marathon and open-water swimming.

Then, in 2012, his wife, Jordana, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer while their family was living overseas.

The family returned to Houston, where Jordana received chemotherapy, radiation and surgery at MD Anderson. She died in 2018 after nearly six years of living with the disease.

As Rieger looked for a way to give back to the medical community that had cared for his family, Swim Across America was preparing to launch its first Houston event in 2019.

“Swim Across America was a perfect match for the two things I was passionate about: fighting cancer and swimming,” Rieger said.

Cancer would touch his family again. In 2021, Rieger's older brother, Matt, was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer and died shortly afterward at age 50.

Rieger has continued taking on increasingly demanding open-water challenges while raising money and awareness in memory of Jordana and Matt.

In 2023, he completed 20 Bridges, the nearly 29-mile circumnavigation swim around Manhattan Island. He trained for an English Channel attempt in 2025, although weather prevented the crossing. In August 2026, he successfully completed the Catalina Channel, a roughly 20-mile open-water crossing in California and one of the seven marathon swimming challenges collectively known as the Oceans Seven.

The Houston event also brought an unexpected new chapter to his life.

In 2022, former swim teammate Kristen Paternina joined the Houston event. The two had not seen each other in nearly three decades.

“Kristen and I swam together on our local YMCA swim team in northeastern Ohio. We hadn’t seen each other since the early 1990s and we reconnected at the Swim Across America - Houston event in April 2022 – and now we are married!” Rieger said.

He continues to bring relatives and friends into Team Rieger, turning a sport that has followed him through much of his life into a way to remember the people he has lost while helping fund research for families facing cancer today.

Team Corrine Swims for a Child Still in the Fight

Not every story at Lake Conroe is about looking back.

Mike Finnerty will participate this year with Team Corrine, named for his young daughter, Corrine, who is fighting cancer.

For the Finnerty family, cancer research is not an abstract scientific goal or something they experienced years ago. It is part of daily life.

Their participation reflects one of the threads that runs throughout Swim Across America: patients, caregivers, survivors, relatives and friends sharing the same stretch of water, even when the stories that brought them there are very different.

Money raised through those swims is intended to give researchers more opportunities to pursue treatments — and families more reasons to hope for what comes next.

Rob McLaren Turned One Charity Swim Into a Nationwide Mission

Longtime participant Rob McLaren has taken the Swim Across America name unusually literally.

He first became involved with the organization in San Francisco in 2009 after his father had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer several years earlier.

His father was treated at MD Anderson for pancreatic cancer and later for lymphoma and prostate cancer. McLaren credits that care with giving his family another 14 years with him.

After moving to Houston, McLaren became a regular Swim Across America participant and fundraiser. He eventually set himself a remarkable goal: participate in every Swim Across America open-water event across the country, a journey encompassing more than 21 swims.

“The courage, tenacity and fun loving spirit I see in everyone who participates with Swim Across America makes me want to never stop,” McLaren said of the community.

For him, swimming is simply the skill he has available to contribute.

“I can swim – and I can swim a lot – so why not use that skill to raise as much money as I can for cancer research. It’s my small contribution and my way of making a difference.”

McLaren's other endurance efforts have included a 12-mile swim across the width of Lake Tahoe, along with swims in other parts of the world.

From Local Charity Swims to More Than $150 Million for Cancer Research

The Lake Conroe gathering is one piece of a national effort that began nearly four decades ago.

Swim Across America was founded in 1987 and uses open-water and pool swimming events to raise money and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment. Today, the nonprofit operates events in 27 communities across the United States, supported by thousands of swimmers and volunteers as well as current and former Olympians.

The organization reports raising more than $150 million for cancer research nationally since its founding and currently supporting more than 60 cancer research projects each year, including work associated with eight named Swim Across America laboratories.

Swim Across America says its funding has supported clinical research connected with immunotherapy treatments including Keytruda, Opdivo, Yervoy and Tecentriq, as well as more recent research involving immunotherapy and gene editing.

In 2025, the organization awarded two $450,000 grants, totaling $900,000, to support cancer gene-editing research through the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The projects involve gene and base-editing approaches, including CRISPR-related research aimed at advancing targeted therapies, immunotherapies and cellular therapies.

That national reach makes the organization large. What happens at Lake Conroe remains decidedly local.

The money raised through the Houston swim benefits MD Anderson, where patients and families from throughout the Houston region — and well beyond it — seek cancer treatment and participate in clinical research. MD Anderson itself lists the Sept. 26 swim among its Neuro-Oncology Department events and has a Team MDAnderSWIM participating in the fundraiser.

How to Join Swim Across America – Houston

The eighth annual Swim Across America – Houston Open Water Swim will be held Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, at Margaritaville Lake Resort, 600 Margaritaville Parkway in Montgomery.

Swimmer check-in opens at 7:15 a.m., “Why I Swim” speakers begin at 8:15 a.m., the Kids' Splash starts at 8:50 a.m. and the half-mile, one-mile and two-mile swims begin at 9 a.m.

Residents who would rather stay on shore can volunteer, donate or support an individual swimmer or team. Virtual participation is also available through SAA My Way.

Register, volunteer or donate through Swim Across America – Houston

There will be athletes at Lake Conroe capable of swimming distances most people would never consider attempting. There will also be children splashing near shore, families holding signs and volunteers helping swimmers in and out of the water.

Different distances. Different stories. The same reason for being there.

For Rieger, Finnerty, McLaren and many others gathering in Montgomery that Saturday morning, the swim offers something tangible they can do with experiences that otherwise can feel painfully beyond anyone's control: take the next stroke, raise the next dollar and help give cancer researchers another opportunity to move their work forward.

Stay tuned to My Neighborhood News for more community events, nonprofit initiatives and local stories making a difference across the Houston and Montgomery County areas.

By Tiffany Krenek, My Neighborhood News 

Tiffany Krenek has been on the My Neighborhood News team since August 2021. She is passionate about curating and sharing content that enriches the lives of our readers in a personal, meaningful way. A loving mother and wife, Tiffany and her family live in the West Houston/Cypress region.

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