One of the biggest local sporting events of the summer, the Taplin Relays, took place on July 29 and 30, with Palisadians leading the Will Rogers team to a number of noteworthy finishes against other top local programs such as El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa and Redondo. Culminating five weeks of intensive lifeguard training, the first day of the elite Junior Lifeguard event began July 29 at Dockweiler Beach in Playa del Rey. Competition started at 9 a.m. with the C division (ages 9-11), followed by the B (12-13) at 10 a.m., the Girls A Relay at 11 a.m., and the co-ed A (14-17) at noon. When the morning was over, Will Rogers left with four top-five finishes, including a victory in the B Division. For each event, Will Rogers entered three 18-person teams (A, B and C), with six runners, six paddlers and six swimmers (with the exception of the Girls A Relay, which consists of only two each and six competitors total). Runners are required to sprint 50 yards in soft sand before handing the baton to the next runner. As the last runner crosses the line, he or she tags the first paddler, who then takes off for the waves dragging a paddleboard. A paddler is expected to use the correct method to enter the water, which sometimes involves rotating with the board through high waves to pass the surf line in order to paddle around a buoy 150 to 200 yards out in the ocean, before racing back to the shore, dragging the board across the sand and handing it to the next paddler. When the last paddler hits the beach, he or she tags the first swimmer, who runs to the edge of the surf and high-steps, before ‘dolphining’ through the water past the waves to start the swim. Each competitor swims around the buoys and then back to shore, where he runs to the edge of the sand to tag the next swimmer. At any one time, the water is filled with swimmers and paddlers, making it hard to see which team is in the lead’one reason why teams wear color-specific hats (Will Rogers was purple). When that last person comes out of the water, all of the relay participants’runners, paddlers and swimmers’line the beach and create a tunnel for the swimmer to go through as a show of support. First up were the relay’s youngest competitors in the C Division, who laid the foundation for Will Rogers’ great day with a third-place showing just behind Torrance and Hermosa. The team was led by runners David Price (Palisadian) and Charlotte Heide, Harrison Loef, Katie Margiotta, Chance Weaver and Kiley Wallace; swimmers Gillian Caverly, Alyssa Kam and Elena Saab (all Palisadians), Marcus Leher, Georgia Moran and Leah Timmerman; and paddlers Matthew Grinsfelder and Miles Toland (Palisadians), Ruby Jackson, Cole Mattes, Jack Standish and Shawn Tenan-Snow. Next up, the 12- and 13-year-olds competing in the B Division followed up that strong effort in victorious fashion, holding off challengers Redondo, El Segundo and Torrance. ’I cant even describe how stoked I was,’ B Division instructor Jim Darling said. ‘Our kids did such a great job and they showed so much team spirit. I knew we’d do well, but third is usually about as good as we get. This year, we eliminated all our mistakes, had great exchanges and gave an 100-percent effort to get the win.’ The B Division winners included runners Spencer Howard, Michaela Keefe and Gabe Stewart (all Palisadians), Carmen Cabral, Grayson Taylor and Bennett Weissenbach; paddlers Will Bantle, David Grinsfelder, Zachary Senator and Hunter Van Duzer (all Palisadians), Tex Hagoski and Zane Spielman; swimmers Claire Meylan and Clara Saab (Palisadians), Evan Blaney, Ian Labash, Ethan Lawrence and Gussie Millar. The Friday morning competition concluded with the Girls Relay’s fifth place finish and the A Division’s fourth place showing. In addition, A Division instructor Eldin Onsgard competed at the National Lifeguarding Championships in Cape May, New Jersey, where he won the 2K beach run in the 60-64 year old division. He could not be reached for the A Division rosters. The next evening, Will Rogers kept the momentum going at the Night Taplin Relays in Hermosa Beach. Three Palisades High students’Tyler Steil (running), Tristan Marsh (swimming) and Aidan Gray (paddling)’combined for the victory, finishing ahead of Hermosa and Venice. Steil and Gray both were members of the Palisades High volleyball team last season and will be seniors this fall. Marsh, 15, swam for the PaliHi swim team and will be a sophomore. Meanwhile, the Will Rogers Girls A team took third, with Tori Scribner (running), Natalie Stilz (swimming) and Mara Silka (paddling) finishing behind winner Venice; the Will Rogers’ Girls B team consisted of Hayley Nilsson (running), Ellen Silka (swimming) and Lauren Shultz (paddling). ’It’s amazing how everyone came together,’ said Darling of Will Rogers’ two-day showing. ‘The team is definitely raising the bar and we’ll have high expectations for our kids next year.’ In order to participate in Junior Lifeguards, all youth must pass a timed swimming trial. Once they are in the program, they spend three hours every day, running, swimming, paddling and learning ocean safety, which is patterned after the actual lifeguard program. The culmination of all their hard work is channeled into the Taplin finals, where they must prove they are the best in a particular area in order to make the team. The Junior Guard Taplin is patterned after the Lifeguard Taplin, the most prestigious lifeguard event in Southern California, which was held the following evening. The relays are named after Judge Irving Taplin, a former Municipal Judge in L.A. County who donated the first trophy.
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