Venice Beach Teams Excel at Taplin Relays

Hundreds of aspiring lifeguards took to the sand between Towers 50 and 51 at Dockweiler Beach in Playa del Rey on Friday morning to represent their respective programs in the annual Taplin Relays--the premiere Junior Lifeguard competition of the summer.

The "sea of colors" consisted of teams from 12 Southland beaches facing off for the coveted "Taplin Bell" in four age divisions (C, B, A girls and A). Each "team" consisted of 18 guards--six runners, six paddlers and six swimmers.

The participating programs were Zuma (Malibu), Santa Monica, Will Rogers (Pacific Palisades), Venice, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa, Tim Kelly (South Hermosa), Redondo, Torrance, Cabrillo (San Pedro) and Avalon (Catalina).

Several beaches like Manhattan, Redondo, Hermosa, Will Rogers and El Segundo, had three or more teams competing in each division, while others like Santa Monica, Zuma, Cabrillo and Avalon, brought only one.

The competition began with the "C's" (ages 9-11) at 9 a.m., followed by the "B's" (ages 12-13) at 10 a.m., the Girls "A's" (consisting of only two runners, two paddlers and two swimmers) at 11 a.m. and the Co-Ed "A's" (ages 14-17) competition was held last, a little before noon.

Venice Beach's A team was third in the "A" division behind Hermosa Beach's A team and Manhattan Beach's A team. Venice's B team was 17th in the "A" division. 

"We got third, which is better than we did last year," said Venice "A" swimmer Bryan Kocker, soon to be a junior at Culver City High School where he plays water polo and specializes in the 100 and 200 freestyle on the varsity swim team. "What's great about [guards] is you learn about the ocean and safety. This is my fifth year and some teammates are guys I compete against in high school, so it's cool having them on my side for once."  

The Venice Girls "A" division team placed sixth out of 10 teams. In the "B" division, Venice Beach's A team finished sixth and its "B" team was 27th. Venice Beach had only one team in the "C" division, placing 10th out of 25 teams.

Friday's competition began with the runners, who sprinted across the sand, around a cone and back again before handing the baton to a teammate. The last runner ran to the edge of the water and tagged the first paddler, who proceeded into the ocean on his/her surfboard, paddled around three designated buoys, and body-boarded back to shore to hand off to the next paddler.

The last phase of the race was the swimmers, who ran parallel to the water, around a flag and dove into the water for a swim around the buoys and back to the beach.  

Each team was given a "color" designation and a banner (Venice was gray) and the team that got all of its swimmers through the finishing chute on the beach first was declared the winner. Participants formed "Tunnels of Love" at the end of each race to cheer on the last finisher on the last team in a unified display of sportsmanship.

Manhattan Beach won the Girls "A" division, Will Rogers won the "B" division and Hermosa won the Co-Ed "A" division. 

There will be a six-member "Junior" Taplin Relay for the "A" and "AA" (ages 16-17) levels Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Hermosa Beach Pier, just before the start of the Lifeguard Taplin Relay.

2011 TAPLIN RELAY RESULTS

C DIVISION 

1. Torrance A

2. Hermosa A

3. Will Rogers A

4. El Segundo A

5. Manhattan Beach A

6. Manhattan Beach B

7. Tim Kelly A

8. Santa Monica

9. Zuma

10. Venice

11. Redondo A

12. Manhattan Beach C

13. Tim Kelly B

14. Hermosa B

15. Hermosa C

16. Torrance B

17. Redondo B

18. Torrance C

19. El Segundo B

20. Tim Kelly C

21. Will Rogers B

22. Zuma B

23. Cabrillo

24. El Segundo C

25. Will Rogers C

B DIVISION

1. Will Rogers A

2. Redondo A

3. El Segundo A

4. Torrance A

5. Manhattan Beach A

6. Venice A

7. Manhattan Beach B

8. Zuma

9. Hermosa A

10. Tim Kelly A

11. El Segundo B

12. Santa Monica 

13. Cabrillo

14. Torrance B

15. Hermosa B

16. Manhattan Beach C

17. Will Rogers B

18. El Segundo C

19. Manhattan Beach D

20. Tim Kelly B

21. Redondo B

22. Hermosa C

23. Manhattan Beach E

24. Avalon 

25. Torrance C

26. Will Rogers C

27. Venice B

28. Torrance D

GIRLS A RELAY

1. Manhattan Beach 

2. Tim Kelly

3. Redondo

4. Zuma

5. Will Rogers 

6. Venice

7. El Segundo

8. Torrance A

9. Torrance B

10. Cabrillo

A DIVISION

1. Hermosa A

2. Manhattan Beach A

3. Venice A

4. Will Rogers A

5. Zuma

6. Redondo

7. Hermosa B

8. Manhattan Beach B

9. Santa Monica

10. El Segundo

11. Torrance A

12. Hermosa C

13. Cabrillo

14. Torrance B

15. Will Rogers B

16. Tim Kelly 

17. Venice B

18. El Segundo B

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