Dan Gorman tries to catch Steve Derico in the 2K Run.

Shore Beach Service held its tenth annual lifeguard competition starting June 25th on the beach near the Coligny Beach Park. For the seventh year, the competition was both an individual event and team competition. Shore’s five supervisors were the captains and drafted lifeguards for each team. Every finish, from first place to last place, earned points for the teams, while any top-five finish earned the competitors points for the individual competition. 

The teams for this years competition were Team Spicoli, led by Dan Condell in his seventh year as captain, Team Cackalacky (formerly known as Southern Comfort), captained by Kjell Pederson for the fifth year, Sea Monkeys, led by second-year captain Jerry Staub, The Warriors, with fist-year captain Charlie Knapper and two-time defending champions Riot In Progress (a.k.a. Signal 37), captained by Susie Duke for the second year.

The competition’s events were completed over two nights.  In each event, men and women compete separately.  The competition kicked-off with the Swim-Run which is a 200 meter run, followed by a 300 meter swim and finishing with another 200 meter run.  Teammates Rachel Robinson and Cari Heckert got Riot In Progress’ hopes for a three-peat off to a great start, placing first and second.  Justin Carver of the Warriors continued his domination of the men’s Run-Swim-Run with his fourth consecutive year winning the event, while his team’s captain Charlie Knapper followed in second.

Sarah MacLaughlin, Caitlin Panek and Lauren Buck line up in Beach Flag finals.

The second event of the night was the 100 Meter Dash.  The women ran first, with Cackalacky’s Heather Julien edging out teammate Sarah MacLaughlin for first. In the men’s dash, Steve Derico raced past Charles Ball of the Warriors to take first in a photo finish.  In the 4X 100 Meter Dash Relay, Spicoli’s team of Chelsey Kucera, Mitch Solon, Jessica Hober and anchorman Dan Gorman narrowly beat the Warriors to take the victory.

The preliminary heats for Beach Flags capped off the competition’s first night. Beach Flags starts with anywhere from 10 to 13 competitors in each heat, laying face down with their toes on the starting line, facing away from the “flags” (actually 1 foot lengths of garden hose) that are evenly spaced 60 feet away.  There is always one less flag than there are competitors in each round.   When the starter’s whistle blows, participants hop up, turn, and sprint to grab a flag, often ending with several competitors diving for the last flag.  Like the game “Musical Chairs”, the person that does not get a flag is eliminated.  The process continues round by round until only the winner is left.  The preliminaries trimmed the field down to 12 finalists for both the men and women.  Team Cackalacky had the most finalists survive with seven, followed by Spicoli, The Warriors and Riot In Progress with five each and Sea Monkeys with only two survivors.  After the first night, Team Spicoli held a small lead over Cackalacky and Riot In Progress, with the Warriors slightly further behind and the Sea Monkeys in last, all but eliminated from capturing first. 

The second night of competition started with the Surf Swim, a 400 meter swim race.  Rachel Robinson made it a sweep of the swimming events, again followed closely teammate Cari Heckert.  Justin Carver had another convincing first place finish amongst the men, winning both swimming events for the fourth straight year.

Charles Ball grabs the last flag to win Beach Flags

The second event of the evening was the 2 Kilometer Beach Run. Team Spicoli’s Caitlin Gillis cruised to victory on the women’s side.  In one of the most anticipated races of the competition, Steve Derico edged Dan Gorman to take first amongst the men.           

A crowd gathered to watch the most entertaining event of the competition—the finals of Beach Flags.  With only the best women and men advancing from the prelims, the finals are always intense.  When the 12 women’s finalists were whittled down to three, defending champion Lauren Buck of the Sea Monkeys, Spicoli’s Sarah MacLaughlin, and rookie guard Caitlin Panek of Riot In Progress were left.  Buck was knocked out next, leaving Panek and MacLaughlin.  In the last round, Panek dove to grab the last flag and take the victory.   The men’s finals were extremely physical as always.  The last pair was Joe Benoit of Cackalacky and The Warriors’ Charles Ball who finish second and third respectively in the 2006 competition.  In the final round, C-Balls jumped to a great start and didn’t let the lead go, giving him the Beach Flags championship.

When the dust settled and the points were tallied, Team Spicoli made Dan Condell the first captain to win two team championships.   Cackalacky was a distant second, followed by Riot in Progress, The Warriors, and the Sea Monkeys.  Cari Heckert was the Women’s Overall Champion, while the Men’s Champion was settled by a tiebreaker, leaving Justin Carver with his 4th consecutive Men’s Overall Championship.  Steve Derico earned fewer points for his team than Carver, leaving him second.

2007 team champions Team Spicoli
Team Competition Results 2007
PLACE	TEAM	CAPTAIN	POINTS
1		Dan Condell	1693
2		Kjell Pederson	1547
3		Susie Duke	1498
4		Charlie Knapper	1361
5		Jerry Staub	1280

Women's Overall Champions 2007 Cari Heckert 2006 Lauren Buck Kelli King Meghan King 2005 Kelli King 2004 Elise Thornell 2003 Hannah Fraser 2002 Linda Spencer 2001 Hannah Fraser 2000 Claire Halloran 1999 Erin Ferrell 1998 Janci Smith	Men's Overall Champions 2007 Justin Carver 2006 Justin Carver Charlie Knapper Andy Motlis 2005 Justin Carver 2004 Justin Carver 2003 Garrett Kelly 2002 Brad Jones 2001 Mike Dull 2000 Sean Connolly 1999 Travis Gay 1998 Dan Condell
2007 Women's Overall Champion Cari Heckert	2007 Men's Overall Champion Justin Carver

Caitlin Panek grabs a flag in the Regional Finals

The individual results from the Shore competition determined which lifeguards would represent Shore Beach Service at this year’s South Atlantic Lifesaving Association Competition, held July 18th and 19th in Virginia Beach, Virginia. 204 lifeguards representing 13 agencies from Virginia Beach down the east coast to Daytona Beach competed in the event.

Shore’s 2007 team had a strong showing, with 16 top ten finishes in various events, including seven medals for top five finishes.  As a team, they finished in fifth place finish in the “A” division.

After several years where the women were the strength of the team, Shore’s 2007 team showed more balance, with men taking eight of the top ten’s and five of the medals.  Shore’s best event, the 2K Beach Run, started the men’s resurgence.   Steve Derico and Dan Gorman placed second and third, while Caitlin Gillis placed eighth and Cari Heckert tenth amongst the women.

Justin Carver takes off for the water for the 9th Place Landline Pull team.

In the Surf Swim, Rachel Robison swam to a seventh place finish while Justin Carver came in eighth.   The two swapped positions in the Run-Swim-Run, with Carver taking seventh and Robinson eighth, while Dan Condell earned a medal with third in the Senior division (30-34 years old).   The team of Lauren Buck, Sarah MacLaughlin, Jess Hober, and Heather Julien won medals in the 4x100 Meter Relay, placing fifth, while the men’s team of Dan Gorman, Mitch Solon, Charles Ball and Steve Derico also matched the fifth. 

The men and women combined to earn ninth in the Landline Pull, an event in which a rescuer with a rope attached swims to a victim, and then is pulled in by two pullers on shore. The team was Justin Carver (victim), Cari Heckert (victim), Charles Ball and Charlie Knapper (pullers).

Shore’s team was made a little weaker by a change in the Swim Rescue Race.  Rather than having just one victim and one rescuer as in the past, the teams were required to have to people to help carry the victim as well.  Therefore, only four teams could be formed rather than eight.   The team of Rachel Robinson (rescuer) Kelli King (victim), Lauren Buck and Caitlin Panek (carriers) earned a fifth place medal. A men’s team of Charlie Knapper (rescuer), Dan Condell (victim), Mitch Solon and Dan Gorman (carriers) placed tenth.

Beach Flags finals were the last event of the competition.  Caitlin Panek finished seventh amongst the women.  Ralph Wagner took Shore lone 1st place medal, with a dramatic diving finish to beat the field in the Veteran’s division (60-64).

2007 South Atlantic Lifesaving Association Competition
Shore Beach Service Team Roster

Women's 5th Place 4X100 Meter Dash Relay team   Sarah MacLaughlin and Jessica Hober pull Cari Heckert in the Surf Swim Rescue

NAME HOMETOWN Charles Ball (2) Sackville, Nova Scotia, Canada Matt Brown (1) Dexter, Michigan Lauren Buck (2) Birmingham, Michigan Justin Carver (4) London, Ontario, Canada Dan Condell (5) Hilton Head Island, South Carolina Steve Derico (1) Rochester, Michigan Caitlin Gillis (1) Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada Dan Gorman (1) Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada Cari Heckert (1) Cullowhee, North Carolina Jessica Hober (2)  Frewsberg, New York Heather Julien (1) London, Ontario, Canada Kelli King (3) Bluffton, South Carolina Charlie Knapper (2)  Scottsbluff, Nebraska Sarah MacLaughlin (3) Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada  Caitlin Panek (1) Caroga Lake, New York Rachel Robinson (1) London, Ontario, Canada Dario Saucedo (1) Bluffton, South Carolina Mitch Solon (2) Lowell, Michigan Ralph Wagner (1) Hilton Head Island, South Carolina Number in parentheses denotes years on team.

Years of dedication push Ralph Wagner to first in the Veteran's Beach Flags