Venice swimmers build lead in Bud Stevenson relay
The 49th Annual International Surf Festival competition kicked off Friday night with the Los Angeles County Lifeguard Championships at Avenue C in Redondo Beach.
Prior to the competitions, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter coordinated with a lifeguard Bay Watch to demonstrate how victims rescued by the lifeguards can be lifted into the helicopter for transport to a hospital.
The 6-lifeguard run relay was won by the Torrance/Redondo Beach/Cabrillo team. This is the fourth consecutive win for the Torrance/Redondo/Cabrillo lifeguards.
The 4-lifeguard shallow water sprint relay was won by the lifeguards from Dockweiller. The 6-lifeguard rescue board relay was won by the Zuma lifeguard team, who had also won the relay in 2008 and 2009.
The main event of the night was the Bud Stevenson Lifeguard Intracrew Medley Relay. Teams consiste of two runners, four swimmers, four paddleboarders, one surf skier, and four two-man dory teams.
The Dockweiller took an early lead, but it was the Venice team that pulled through and won the competition for the fourth year in a row.
Venice swimmer Kicker Vencill helped his team gain what proved an insurmountable lead. Vencil represented the U.S. at the 2001 World University Games.
Venice lifeguard Chad Carvin also contributed to his team’s early lead. Carvin won a silver medal with the American 4x200m Freestyle Relay Team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney Australia.
Other members of the Venice team were runners Pedro Cardos and Tyler Contrasy, swimmers Juan Delgadillo and Azad Al-Barazi, paddlers Shota Guterres, Keith Benzer, AJ Lester, and Nick Sullivan, surf skier Dan Murphy, and dory crews Dave Cartlidge and Nadia Dan, George Akopyan and Andrew Czer, Anto Boghokian and David Carpenter, and Danny Douglas and Dan Bender. ER