MASON -- In one pool, a woman floated face-down. Nearby, a man flung his arms and legs wildly, as he tried desperately to keep his head above water.
But the lifeguards waited . . . until, with a voice over the loudspeaker and a click of the timer, they jumped in to rescue the ailing swimmers. About 120 lifeguards from across Ohio competed in the third annual State Red Cross Lifeguard Competition Sundayat The Beach Waterpark. The contest was sponsored by the Cincinnati Area Chapter of the American Red Cross. All the lifeguards had completed Red Cross training programs.
Cincinnati's Red Cross has trained more than 1,200 lifeguards this year, but the area still suffers a lifeguard shortage, said Carollee Ochsner, the American Red Cross-Cincinnati's water safety coordinator. The strenuous nature of the job may deter some, she said.
Seventeen teams competed, trying to save "victims" -- actually Red Cross volunteers -- who represented active, passive, submerged, severely bleeding and spinal-injured drowning victims.
Cincinnati's team, representing the Blue Ash Recreation Center, came in second. Two Dayton teams snagged first and third.
"They're competing in skills they use on a daily basis," Ms. Ochsner said.
Judges watched every move, critiquing everything from how lifeguards got into the water and approached the victim to how they dragged the victim to safety and opened airways.
"Any Red Cross team is really well-trained," said lifeguard Andy Sweeney, 19, of Blue Ash. "We should all be getting perfect scores."
Said lifeguard Jay Rust, 20, of Loveland: "It helps you learn the stuff better if you have to do it in competition."
