Shore Beach Service’s 20^th annual Lifeguard Competition got underway on June 15^th at Hilton Head Island’s Coligny Beach Park. Each summer the Beach Patrol supervisors, who act as the team captains, draft teams that are made up of the entire staff. The competition rewards teamwork along with recognizing individual excellence. Every lifeguard in the competition receives team points in correlation to the place that the lifeguard finishes the event. A top-five finish earns that lifeguard individual points that are tallied to crown the overall women’s and men’s champion. The individual points are also used to create a regional competition team. The competition is scheduled as a three-night affair. In each event, the women and men compete separately.

 This year’s competition saw the introduction of one new teams and five returning teams. Returning for 2017 as captains were Scott Ohlson with his Public Beach Rebels, David Murphy leading the Palmetto Goons, Taylor Smith  going back to her 2015 moniker Tay Watch, and sophomore captains Zac Laffin and Luke McGowan commanding the Palmetto Bay Pirates and Dread Nauticals in the battle. The lone new captain was Julie Trodden, leading Tropic Thunder. 

The competition commenced with the 400 meter Surf Swim.    Kayla Aitken, (Palmetto Bay Pirates/Evansville) snagged 1^st, followed by Megan Strickland (Dread Nauticals/Arkansas), Maisey Kent (Tropic Thunder/Delta State), Liz Madison (Public Beach Rebels/Ball State) and Aitken's college teammate, Bridget Sheridan (Pirates/Evansville) finishing 5^th.  The men's Surf Swim saw another Purple Ace swimmer winning with Isaac Devaney (Tay Watch/Evansville) taking the top spot.  Kevin Murphy (Tropic Thunder/St.Bonaventure) was 2^nd, followed by Parker Whitley (Rebels), Vaughn Holmes (Palmetto Goons/Michigan State) and another Purple Ace swimmer, Matt Childress (Tropic Thunder/Evansville) in 5^th.

The 2K Beach Run followed, and rookie Christieanna Apon (Tay Watch/Liberty) ended the 3 year win streak of Kristin Schmidt (Rebels/Merrimack), who finished 2^nd.  Janae Banner (Pirates/Loyola,MD) finished 3^rd, followed by Taylor Mastin (Rebels) and Ellie Crawford (Thunder/DePauw) in 5^th.  Tian Siggins (Tay Watch) sped to victory on the men's side, outlasting, Tyler Crispen (Goons).  Andrew Fitzpatrick (Rebels) was 3^rd, while Keegan Schlager (Goons)  finished 4^th and Bradley Wilson (Pirates/ Wisconsin-LaCrosse) took 5^th.  

Night two of competiton started with the Run-Swim-Run, which consists of a 200 meter run along the edge of the water, followed by a swim of 300 meters before coming ashore to run the final 200 meters. On the women’s side, the top two spots were the same as in the Run-Swim-Run with Kayla Aitken 1^st and Megan Strickland 2^nd.   Liz Madison moved up a spot, taking 3^rd, while Cassidy Langley (Tay Watch) was 4^th and Maisey Kent 5^th.  In the men's event, it was Kevin Murphy taking 1^st handily, followed by Vaughn Holmes, Bradley Wilson, Matt Childress and Tian Siggins. 

Next up was the 100 Meter Dash.   In the women's race, Rebecca Gerner (Tay Watch) was a the favorite, but teammate Christieanna Apon pulled off another upset. Gerner finished well behind to take 2^nd, followed by Cheyenne Polverine (Goons), Andie Heffelfinger (Pirates) and Kristin Schmidt.    Rookie David Black (Rebels) was 1^st across the finish line for the men.  Bradley Wilson took 2^nd, followed by Jacob Dummermuth (Pirates), Zach Toman (Rebels/Ball State) and Aaron Johnston (Nauticals). The captains then plucked their four best ladies and four best men  for the 4x100 Relay. The Tay Watch team of Rebecca Gerner, Cassidy Langley, Christieanna Apon and Jessica Scott cruised to victory, while  Palmetto Bay Pirates team of Bradley Wilson, Ben Ellis, Jake Dummermuth and Tim Wright were the mens winners.

The grand finale of the lifeguard competition is the biggest crowd pleaser -Beach Flags.  The event is held in an area  that is 10 yards wide by 25 yards long. The lifeguards start lying prone in the sand with their feet facing the flags. The flags are actually cut pieces of a garden hose each about a foot long. When the whistle blows the guards erupt from their position and race across the sand to grab a flag. There is always one less flag than there are competitors, so one guard is eliminated at the end of each round. Through the process of elimination you get down to the most exciting few seconds of the entire competition. Two lifeguards, one flag. 

 Jessica Scott bested the Cheyenne Polverine, grabbing the last flag to take the 2017 Beach Flags title. Megan Strickland took 3^rd, Gabby Barnet (Goons) was 4^th and last year's runner-up Maddy Yemc (Nauticals) snagged 5^th.  Jake Dummermuth defended his 2016 title, edging out Bradley Wilson.  Goons teammates Vaughn Holmes and Tyler Crispen took  took the next two spots, while Elisha Brooks (Nauticals) finished 5^th.   

With her 2^nd place finishs in the Surf Swim and Run-Swim-Run, along with 3^rd in Beach Flags gave .  Bradley Wilson's 2^nd places finishes in Beach Flags and the 100 Meter Dash, 3^rd in the Run-Swim-Run and 5^th in the 2K earned him the Men’s Overall Champion title. 

When team points were tallied, the Public Beach Rebels' strong performance accross every event gave captain Scott Ohlson his third team championship in four years. Laffin's Palmetto Pay Pirates were runnners up again,  edging out the Palmetto Goons. Tay Watch finished 4^th, followed by Dread Nauticals in 5^th and Tropic Thunder in last.