Run, Swim, Run : Grueling Tryout Draws Would-Be Lifeguards to Huntington Beach

Sean Rones, a 19-year-old triathlon competitor from San Diego, said he had a secret ointment that would make Sunday’s grueling lifeguard tryouts at Huntington State Beach a breeze.

“I’m gonna go all out,” he said, rubbing thick white goo all over his body. Rones predicted he would easily complete the first leg of the tryouts--a 1,000-yard swim in the chilly 55-degree ocean--in 15 minutes, five minutes short of the required time.

“With this stuff,” he said, holding up a palm full of the ointment, “and my experience--I’ve done the world’s toughest triathlon, at Lake Tahoe--it’ll be a cinch.”

Laura Cox, a senior at Huntington Beach’s Marina High School and a member of the Goldenwest Swim Club, was less optimistic. She said she had been “working out a lot,” but wasn’t overly confident she would qualify.

“I tried out for a city lifeguard position last year and didn’t make it,” the 17-year-old explained. “I’m just gonna do my best and see what happens.”

The two teen-agers were among 241 new applicants and 80 returning seasonal lifeguards seeking the coveted, $7.77-per-hour positions with the California park system. In addition to the 1,000-yard swim, the contenders had 10 minutes to run 200 yards along the beach, charge back into the cold water for a 400-yard swim, then cap the whole thing off by immediately running another 200 yards through the sand.

Up for grabs are about 25 openings at Huntington, Bolsa Chica and Crystal Cove state beaches. The 164 new contenders who qualified in Sunday’s tryouts--19 of them women--now face oral interviews to see who will be chosen. Similar tryouts are scheduled for next month at South Cardiff and San Buenaventura state beaches in San Diego and Ventura counties.

Ken Kramer, one of the permanent lifeguards officiating at the tryouts, said he was “very impressed” by Sunday’s contenders. “We’ve got a very fit group of really strong swimmers,” he said during the run-swim-run.

Usually about half of those trying out for the first time qualify for interviews, Kramer said. “This year’s good showing will place more emphasis on the interviews,” he said.

David Pryor, another lifeguard official, said the applicants’ backgrounds and levels of experience and maturity will be closely scrutinized during the interviews. “Also, where they swam before and whether they have CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation) certificates will play a big part,” he said.

Those chosen will undergo a 48-hour rookie training session that includes classes in first aid, CPR, emergency rescue techniques and oceanography, along with state park policies and regulations.

In recent years, officials noticed that almost all lifeguards were white males from the affluent beach communities. An affirmative action educational program was launched last year in hope of interesting female and minority students in trying out for the job.

Recruiting officer Al Pepito called the program “moderately successful,” but observers who attended both the 1984 and 1985 tryouts noticed a marked increase in the number of female and minority contenders.

During the year, Pepito and his recruitment team contacted 100 schools in the inland areas of Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles counties, visiting 35 schools and speaking to 1,500 students.

One group of hopefuls, four young friends from Commerce and Bell Gardens, said they heard about the tryouts when Pepito visited Bell Gardens High School last year. Al Harrington, 17, said he tried out in 1984 and didn’t make it, but Sunday he was back with his water-polo-playing pals in tow.

This Year Is Better

This year, Al Harrington said, he thought he did much better. His friends, Jorge Garcia, Adolfo Membreno and Anthony Miranda, also said they thought they had done well--and all four qualified for the oral interview.

Miranda, 21, lives in Commerce but attends school at Golden West College, where he works at the campus swimming pool. “I wish the run was longer,” he said, catching his breath after the run-swim-run. “I was doing fine, but as soon as I got in the water, everyone passed me up,” he said.

One reason for the strenuous tryouts is the very nature of the job, Pryor said. Last year, of the 3 million visitors who flocked to the 11 miles of coastline comprising Orange County’s state beaches, 3,762 became “rescues,” he said. That was in addition to countless preventive warnings “and a couple of thousand first aids,” Pryor said.

One young man who stretched out on the sand after Sunday’s tryouts trying to regain his energy had good cause for his exhaustion: not only did 17-year-old Ivan Wilkins have the best time in the 1,000-yard swim--11 minutes, 30 seconds--but he is also suffering from mononucleosis.

“I was surprised to come in first,” he said, adding, “God, am I tired.”

Unable to Train

Ivan, a member of the Santa Monica High School swim team, said he came down with the debilitating illness about four days ago and has been unable to train since then. But although the beach was cluttered with shivering bodies wrapped in blankets after each segment of the tryouts, “It wasn’t as cold as I expected,” Ivan said. Three swim suits and a cap helped keep him warm, he surmised.

Recruiting officer Pepito, also a permanent lifeguard, said water conditions were “nearly ideal. It’s almost like swimming in a pool.”

Laura Cox, the 17-year-old who began the day cautiously hopeful but with memories of “not making it” in 1984, agreed: “It is like a pool, really flat out there with no waves,” she said.

Laura’s training apparently paid off. She completed the 1,000-yard-swim in an excellent time of just under 15 minutes and breezed through the run-swim-run. “It was easy,” she said, conceding that Sean Rones’ secret ointment--which he let her use--may have helped.

Rones, however, said the ointment “didn’t help as much as I thought.” He said his time on the 1,000-yard swim was disappointing.