Monmouth NJ lifeguards took home national lifesaving championship for the fourth time

Charlie Rennard, a 17-year-old Long Branch beach lifeguard, competed as part of the Monmouth County Lifeguards team in the National Lifeguard Competition earlier this month. And what a time he had.

The team won first place - its fourth national championship - and Rennard ranked in the top 10 out of 226 male competitors. The Monmouth team represents beaches throughout the Jersey Shore.

“All the younger people are just more excited to compete," said Rennard, one of the team's youngest competitors at the Virginia Beach, Virginia, event. "I think the excitement adds to the adrenaline and makes everyone do their best."

He also came in second among the lifeguards for gaining the most points for the team.

“I’m really happy with what I did, but I know that I can do better next year,” Rennard said.

The Jersey Shore's 87-member team took home the first-place award with its highest score ever and with the youngest crew of competitors ever sent to the annual U.S. Lifesaving Association competition.

For a crew of lifeguards who only work the beaches during the summer, this is a great achievement, said team president Dan George.

“We call ourselves seasonal professionals. Californians and Floridians, you know, this is their job all year 'round,” George said. “To see this kind of effort and this kind of performance is truly historic."

The performance of a new breed of younger lifeguards not only surprised the leaders, but it also brought enthusiasm for the team’s future competition, said the team's head coach, Denise Blair, who has been a lifeguard for about 30 years.

“It was a great feeling. It was a great team effort from everyone.  We had a lot of first-time competitors, so it’s always exciting to see their enthusiasm,” she said.

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For Mary Kate George, 24, the team’s performance can be inspiring for younger folks who are now venturing into lifeguard duties.

“To do this job, you have to be in shape so that you can be ready at any time to make your rescue. That level of fitness, that level of being your best self and how it translates into competition is what is so fun, why I love it so much,” she said.

“It’s about being the best lifeguard you can be, but also about being the best person you can be, and that’s in itself is inspiring,” added the Long Branch lifeguard who is now pursuing a master's degree in mental health counseling.

Lifesaving sport, a discipline recognized by the International Olympic Committee, consists of physically demanding races in which athletes swim, run, paddle, surf and sail. According to the U.S. Lifesaving Association, it was created to encourage lifesavers to develop and maintain the physical and mental stamina needed to save lives in the water.

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While younger delegates surpassed expectations, veterans didn’t fall behind.

Deal lifeguard Ryan Matthews, 40, was the top performer of the team. He earned the most points for the team and won the American Ironman Open, dubbed as the most physically demanding.

“I never expected to win the team title. It wasn’t really a thing I thought was ever really gonna happen for me. I'm very happy it has. It was really one of the last things I had in my list,” Matthews said.

This is the third time Monmouth County has won the national competition since 2014. The team's first win was in 1983.

“I think we just have realized since we won in 2014, that we have the athletes for it. And the athletes have been training more efficiently. Once you win, or once you come close to winning, it gives you energy, it gives you hope,” Matthews said.

This year, Delaware’s Sussex County team came in second. While the 46-time champion California’s LA county team, placed third.

Matthews, a long-time lifeguard who has represented the U.S. internationally said he hopes the recent championship attracts more people into becoming lifeguards.

“We are in a lifeguard shortage locally, but also nationwide. And I just hope that there are more athletes locally that look to it as a job that’s fulfilling,” he said.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth NJ lifeguards awarded first place at national competition