Newport holds annual lifeguard tryout

Luis Pena

Wearing bathing suits and bright red swimming caps, more than 60

swimmers fearlessly ran into the cool Pacific Ocean as part of the

Newport Beach Fire Department’s annual open tryout for lifeguards

Sunday at Newport Pier.

The candidates stood shoulder to shoulder before the horn sounded

at 9:20 a.m. and the hopefuls would plunge into the 58-degree water.

This year, the department received more than 100 applications but

only two-thirds were invited to the tryout, said Donna Boston, public

information officer for the Newport Beach Fire Department.

“We want people that can manage the responsibility of saving lives

and that’s a huge responsibility,” she said.

The tryout, which consisted of the 1,000-meter competitive swim

and the 1,000-meter competitive run-swim-run, were designed to

simulate actual conditions of being a lifeguard because candidates

have to be able to meet those types of environmental conditions when

rescuing swimmers.

As a precaution, seasoned lifeguards were placed in the water to

make sure that nothing went wrong. Just as important, a crowd of

family and friends applauded and shouted onshore to encourage the

participants.

Everyone who tried out, including several students from Corona del

Mar and Newport Harbor high schools, took the contest very seriously,

Boston said.

The first-place swimmer was Melissa Wheeler, who finished in 14

minutes and 22 seconds. Wheeler, a junior at Newport Harbor High, is

the second girl to win the swimming event in the last 10 years, said

Lifeguard Capt. Jim Turner. But winning isn’t anything new for

Wheeler. She was part of the Newport Harbor girls’ water polo team’s

recent CIF Southern Section Division I title.

“I was the last in the water and there was a bunch of boys ahead

of me and I was like, oh, this is going to be tough,” Wheeler said.

“So, I just did my best to find holes and to try to just go around.”

Wheeler said she was only hoping to place in the top 10, but she

kept passing everyone.

“To beat all of them it shows the girls that they can do it,”

Wheeler said. “But it also shows the guys that they need to look at

the girls as competitors and not just as pushovers.”

Wheeler’s win was also a proud moment for her father, Brad, who

knew that she had the conditioning and the competitive edge to keep

up with the boys.

“I’m gonna look out, watch her making rescues this summer right

out here and I’m going to be just stoked,” Turner said.

Clay Jorth was the top male finisher, with a time of 14:29.67.

The 1,000-meter competitive run-swim-run was won by Dreason Barry,

a UC Irvine student. For the event, candidates had to run on soft

sand and then swim out into the ocean only to make another run on the

sand.

Barry said running on the sand is tough on the calf muscles. Barry

said his calves were burning when he came out of the water but when

he saw someone coming from behind he sped up and won. He said had

hoped that he could take first place in both events but placed sixth

in the swimming event.

“I thought it would be a good experience and a lot of other people

I know are doing this,” Barry said.

The winners were selected by averaging out the positions that they

came in. So, if someone came in 10th place they would receive 10

points versus someone who came in 15th place who would then receive

15 points. Like golf, the lower the score was better.

The department was going to choose the top 25 applicants, but a

tie led the department to select 28 people, Turner said. After

completing a 125-hour training class, the newly appointed cadets can

begin working on the beaches of Newport.