Erica Rose developed a passion for swimming as a young child when her parents enrolled her in learn-to-swim lessons. By the age of 6, she was competing for her local summer club, the Forest Hills Swim Club in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. At age 7, she began swimming year round for the Lake Erie Silver Dolphins, one of the most prominent age group swim teams in the country. Erica progressed through the various levels of competition, starting at the Zone Championships and working her way to Junior Nationals and then on to the Senior National level. She represented Hawken School in the Ohio High School State Championships, winning several individual and team state titles over the course of her four years. In 1997, she qualified for the USA National Junior Team and was ranked 3rd in the world in the 1500-meter freestyle.

About the same time, Erica entered her first open water race in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Jerry Holtrey, her Hawken and LESD coach, had been an open water swimmer and encouraged his swimmers to try the ocean race. Erica placed second and instantly loved the freedom of the sport, the lack of lane lines and the challenge of ever changing conditions. One year later, at age 15, Erica became the first ever World Champion in the Open Water 5K!

Erica continued to race in both the pool and open water venues, focusing on pool swimming in the fall and winter seasons and open water swimming in the spring and summer. Erica was recruited to Northwestern University where she competed for four years in the distance and individual medley events and became a Big Ten Conference finalist and an NCAA Championship qualifier. After her final collegiate season, Erica retired from pool swimming in order to focus on her true passion – open water swimming.

Erica represented the USA on seven World Championship teams. She competed on the USA National team for twelve years. She earned ten national titles and was voted USA Open Water Swimmer of the Year four times throughout her career. She competed in the Grand Prix and World Cup series of races, finishing as high as third in the world rankings during the 2007 season. 

Although Erica is no longer training and competing full-time, she is still swimming regularly in preparation for occasional open water competitions and challenges.  In addition, Erica stays involved with the sport through coaching, speaking and encouraging swimmers of every age and ability to participate in open water events. 

In 2009, Erica was invited to be one of six women from around the world to compete in a race across the English Channel.  Unfortunately, the event was cancelled at the last minute.  The Great Channel Swim would have been the first race across the 22-mile wide Channel in over fifty years.