Women lifeguards share what it takes to keep in shape for saving lives
CAPE MAY POINT — “Every day, think about how amazing it is that you get to train in order to help people, that you can use your body as a tool to keep others alive and safe.”
That was the advice of Cape May Beach Patrol Lt. Sara Werner on how to best prepare to become a lifeguard.
She, along with other lifeguards who were taking part in last week’s Cape May Point Women’s Lifeguard Challenge, talked about the sports they played in high school and how they have kept in shape since then to do the work of protecting the beaches in southern New Jersey.
All of the women are fit. They had to be, because they were completing a 1.3-mile soft-sand run followed by a 1-mile ocean paddle and half-mile ocean swim off St. Pete’s beach.
Werner, a past competitor at the challenge, was a surfer in high school while attending Wildwood Catholic.
“Then I also swam, begrudgingly, because I knew I had to be strong for lifeguarding and helping people. And I also did track,” the veteran guard said.
And how does she stay in shape now?
“I try to keep up with all of them,” she said, pointing at the younger lifeguards. “I have to keep pushing them, so it pushes me to be strong for them.”
Werner had taken part in a 6-mile bay race with one of the guards and two other team members encouraged her to do the 10-mile Sea Isle City race with them, “so we’re kind of pushing each other. I do distance paddles for charity and I run soft sand every day because of this race.”
She noted how her fellow lieutenant on the Wildwood Beach Patrol, Katie (Collins) Joyce, placed fourth at the Women’s Lifeguard Challenge, “so we have to represent.” All four of the CMBP’s competitors finished in the top 15 at the race, including the duo that took the team title. (See related page B3).
“I wanted to do it with them but there were only four spots and they have been training so hard, so I had to give it to this next generation,” Werner said. “They are studs. They’re amazing.”
Lindsay Robbins of the Upper Township Beach Patrol said she ran cross country and swam during high school.
“That’s a good combination to train for this and lifeguarding,” she said.
The graduate of Cape May Technical School attends Millersville University in Pennsylvania, where she is on the swim team. To keep in shape, Robbins still swims with her club team and runs.
Robbins and her partner finished third as a team at the challenge out of the 35 competitors.
Stacey Price said her preparation for lifeguarding came as she swam and rowed crew at Mainland Regional High School, from which she graduated in 2014. The Ventnor City Beach Patrol guard also rowed at Jacksonville University in Florida.
“I really just have that love for rowing,” Price said about staying in shape. She recently was coaching crew at Temple University as a graduate assistant. “As I was studying I was coaching, which was really fun, and the athletes there really motivate me because I’m telling them what to do so I feel I have to have some credibility.
“I have to keep up with fitness because I’m encouraging them to do the same. They hold me accountable through the year and I have fun with the sport,” Price said. “I love it. It’s a matter of continuing it throughout the year.”
Iris Sanchez from the Cape May Point Beach Patrol, now studying engineering at University of Delaware, ran cross country and track throughout her years at Lower Cape May Regional High School.
“I think that definitely helped and swimming,” she said. “Although the ocean isn’t like a pool, I know the technique so it helps me in the ocean.”
To stay in shape, Sanchez, a 2020 LCMR graduate, has kept up with cross country “because it’s a stress reliever. If I ever have a bad day, I’ll go on a long run and that will clear my head.”
“I was a swimmer all throughout high school so that definitely helped me prepare to be a lifeguard,” said Madeline Seybold of the Sea Isle City Beach Patrol. Those years of high school sports made the swimming aspect of the lifeguard job easy. “I just had to work on the running a little,” she added.
Seybold, a graduate of Eastern Regional High School who now swims for Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., said during the summer she mainly paddles and lifts weights, but in the wintertime it is swimming and lifting. “I’ve gotten very into lifting, so that helps a lot,” she said.
Grace Emig from the Brigantine Beach Patrol “has been a swimmer forever. My dad, Kip, is the chief of Brigantine Beach Patrol and was my high school swim coach. I got to have him all four years of high school and I swam all my life up until that and swam one year in college.”
The 2020 Stockton University graduate, now a teacher in Brigantine, keeps in shape with swimming, paddling and the occasional run. “The run is my weakest point,” she laughs. “I try to keep up with the swim and paddling weekly in the winter and daily once the weather gets warmer.”
Joyce, a lieutenant for the Wildwood Beach Patrol now in her 11th summer as a lifeguard, said she was a swimmer all through high school at Holy Name in Reading, Pa., before heading to Temple University.
“I still swim, I started running a lot more, I lift a lot and I train for triathlons,” Joyce said about keeping in shape.
Now a school counselor in Philadelphia, she had her own advice to offer about preparing to be a lifeguard — and part of that is about advice.
“Just try a lot of different sports, be open to different things and find what you like and what you’re good at, and then stick to that,” Joyce said. “Ask advice from older lifeguards or older athletes and get advice from them. Be open-minded and have fun.”
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
