Aug 7, 2013

More than 75 lifeguards from Maryland’s state parks converged on Sandy Point State Park near Annapolis to compete for bragging rights in events that tested their swimming, running and rescue skills.

: Rachel Allman, left, was rescued by Natalie Parks in the rescue competition. Both are lifeguards at Shad Landing Sate Park in Pocomoke. Sandy Point State Park hosts the Maryland Park Service Lifeguard Competition. Seventy-five lifeguards from around the state competed in swimming, running and rescue relays. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Lifeguards race into the water for the Iron Guard competition which includes a running and swimming relay. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: The rescue race takes place with the Bay Bridge in the background. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Zach Crowther, left, is rescued by Jeremy Watson in the rescue competition. Both are Gunpowder Falls State Park lifeguards. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Park Ranger Cineva Kline with the Maryland Parks Service Training Division, takes a kayak to the water to officiate the water rescue competition. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: After completing the water rescue, lifeguards wait for the next race, the Iron Guard. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Cloudy skies didn’t deter seventy-five lifeguards from around the state in competing in the Maryland Park Service Lifeguard Competition hosted by Sandy Point State Park. The lifeguards take part in the Australian Sprint Elimination (beach flags). (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Michael Berna (#64), a lifeguard at Gunpowder Falls State Park, picks a stick that lands him on one end of the pack during a heat in the Australian Sprint Elimination (beach flags) competition. In this race the competitors start out lying belly down and face the opposite direction from which they’ll run. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: The lifeguards begin the Australian Sprint Elimination lying flat on their stomachs.(Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Ben Schaffle won the men’s Australian Sprint Elimination competition (beach flags). Josh Blake with Gunpowder Falls State Park came in third. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Sandy Point lifeguard Jesse Jones, 20, left (#35) competes in the flag race after placing first in the women’s 300 meter swim. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Semma Pennington, 19, a lifeguard at Gunpowder Falls State Park, left, wins the Australian Sprint (flag race) Elimination game. Lindsey Buckman, 21, a lifeguard at Assateague State park, comes in second. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Mikaela Marcinak, 2, from Severn, whose mom, Sara Marcinak is a Sandy Point Park Ranger, tries to take pictures with her mother’s phone. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Family members, friends, and team mates cheer for the competitors. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Sandy Point State Park retired rangers, Wendell Jones, left, and Jeffrey Ruark officiate at the Maryland Park Service Lifeguard Competition this year. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: Family, friends and competitors line up to watch the competition. Sandy Point won the overall competition. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

: A scoreboard lists the State Parks in the competition. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)

RELATED
Park lifeguards maintain serious focus at annual competition
By Pamela Wood, The Baltimore Sun
8:47 p.m. EDT, August 6, 2013

Lifeguards, Cullin Brown will have you know, do not laze around beaches, lakes and pools.

“There’s a stereotype that we sit in the sun and tan,” said Brown, a 19-year-old lifeguard at Rocky Gap State Park in Western Maryland.

State park lifeguards train every day — running, swimming or practicing rescue skills, all of which Brown and about 75 other guards put on display Tuesday at Sandy Point State
Park near Annapolis at the annual competition of lifeguards from every state park with a beach or pool.

Lifeguard Competition at Sandy Point State Park

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