Will Rogers Girls Ace Taplins

Success came in the number six and in the color purple for local aspiring lifeguards at the Taplin Relays on Dockweiler Beach in El Segundo last Friday. The Taplins, the five-week culmination of junior lifeguard lessons, are patterned after the adult training program and include long distance running, sprints, paddling and buoy swims. At this final and most prestigious competition of the summer, junior lifeguards from Will Rogers State Beach competed against teams from Avalon, Cabrillo, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, Venice, Santa Monica and Zuma Beach. Taking first place in the Girls’ A division, which consists of two runners, two paddlers and two swimmers, were Will Rogers’ Tori Scribner, Lauren Shultz, Mara Silka, Natalie Stilz, Liliana Casso and Olivia Kirkpatrick. What was unique about the Girls’ A division is that it was the only one with six guards. All of the other divisions consisted of 18 members–six runners, six paddlers and six swimmers. Will Rogers sent three teams in the C division (ages 9-11), three in the B division (ages 12-13) and in addition to the single sex team, two coed teams in the A division (ages 14-17). Runners are required to sprint 50 yards in soft sand before handing the baton to the next runner. As the last runner crosses the line, he or she tags the first paddler, who then takes off for the waves dragging a paddleboard. A paddler is expected to use the correct method to enter the water. This sometimes involves rotating with the board through high waves to pass the surf line in order to paddle around a buoy 150 to 200 yards out in the ocean, before racing back to the shore, dragging the board across the sand and handing it to the next paddler. When the last paddler hits the beach, he or she tags the first swimmer, who runs to the edge of the surf where they high-step, before dolphining through the water past the waves to start their swim. They swim around the buoys and then back to shore, where they run to the edge of the sand to tag the next swimmer. At any one time, the water is filled with swimmers and paddlers, making it hard to see which team is in the lead–one reason why the first and last competitor in each leg wears a cap that is a color specific to his or her beach. For this competition, Will Rogers was assigned the color purple. Will Rogers instructor Larry Felix, a teacher and water polo coach at Oaks Christian High in Westlake Village, served as an announcer to the crowd of more than 2,000 gathered at the beach. “No one child will win for their team,” he said. “Rather it’s a collective effort using the skills they learned this year.” Overall, Will Roger’s A coed team took fifth place and included Stephen Anthony, Ryan Angelich, Jack Rogers, Aiden Gray, Wes Galie, Mara Silka, Leland Frankel, Jordan Wilimovsky, Kurtis Rossie, Liliana Casso, Andrew Hacker. Holder Miller, Tori Scribner, Garrett Yost, Paul Czer, Zack Gold, Natalie Stilz and Devin Pugliese. “Guards give them discipline,” said Will Rogers A instructor Eldin Onsgard, a professor at East L.A. College. The Will Rogers B age group teams finished 3, 12 and 25 out of 31 teams and the third place team included runners Charlie Hollingsworth, Charlotte Robinson, Jack McGeagh, Genki Yoshida, Michaela Keefe and Tucker Steil; swimmers Nicole Johnson, Allison Hoops, Mardel Ramirez, Tiana Marsh, Neil Farnham and Alec Wilimovsky; and paddlers Kelly Harlan, Matthew Friedman, Zachary Senator, Michael Lukasiak, Ian LaBash and David Grinsfelder. The C-team faced stiff competition against 30 other teams and placed sixth, as perennial power Manhattan Beach took first place. The Will Rogers B and C teams placed 24th and 26th, respectively. As the last C swimmer came out of the water, the 540 junior guards who had to run, paddle and swim that day formed a tunnel for that competitor to run through as a way of showing their support and camaraderie. “Although they’re representing their individual beaches,” Felix said. “We’re all L.A. County Lifeguards. We’re one big happy family.” The Taplin Relays were named after Judge Irving Taplin, a former Municipal Court Judge in Los Angeles County, who donated the event’s first trophy. The Taplin Lifeguard Relay has been held every year since 1936 with the exception of 1942-45 when it was suspended during World War II. Once the junior lifeguard program started in 1961, youths started competing with 18-member teams on Fridays, with the adult lifeguard Taplin competition held the following day. Adults have a medley relay of four swimmers, four paddlers and four two-man dory teams. Both the junior and adult Taplins are considered the most prestigious annual lifeguard competitions in Southern California. Once again in 2010, Will Rogers State Beach junior lifeguards represented their community well and made “purple” proud.