By Rachel Kalina and Mike Russo
This year, the Jones Beach rookie lifeguard test was more wide open than usual: There were half as many jobs available as there were competitors. Most seasons, the ratio of openings to eager applicants is much smaller. As usual, people of all ages and abilities gathered from in and out of state to try to qualify for one of the nation's best-known lifeguard corps.
The Jones Beach test has four parts, and even if applicants pass all four of them, their overall performances may not rank high enough to win them jobs. That was what happened to McShane two years ago, the last time she tried out. "I feel more confident than last time," she said before the competition began, "but it's all by chance."
Swimming is in McShane's blood: Her father, uncle and cousins are all lifeguards, and Rachel, a soon-to-be Siena College sophomore, swims on her school's team.
Stripping down to her Speedo, McShane psyched herself up for the first event, a 100-yard sprint in the chilly, 68-degree West Bathhouse pool, which swimmers must finish in under 1 minute, 15 seconds in order to move on to the next challenge. Parents and friends cheered their loved ones on from the walkway above the pool as heat after heat of swimmers hit the water with the blast of a whistle.
At the pool's edge was McShane's friend Britt Lundwall, an 11-year Jones Beach veteran. Lundwall gave Rachel a firm "Go!" of encouragement as she dived in at the start of her heat. She finished just under 1 minute and 1 second later, and Lundwall hollered, "Nice job, Rachel!"
"[I feel] pretty good," McShane said between gulps of air, explaining that she had swum faster than she did two years ago.
After the pool sprint, the competitors headed out to the beach for the second part of the test, a 400-yard open-water swim in the bitterly cold, 60-degree ocean. Staying confident and positive in between efforts was a major part of McShane's strategy. Said 16-year lifeguard John Benedetto, "You can't have any negative thoughts. Everything has to be positive, because the test is mental and physical."
McShane said that although others might find the ocean swim the hardest part of the test, she likes the cold. She emerged from the water with a time of 4:45, still looking strong, if thoroughly chilled. All along the beach, swimmers who managed to stumble out of the water were bent double, shivering, covered in goosebumps, lungs heaving. "She's doing a great job," Lundwall said of her friend. "... You have to be some kind of athlete for this."
Next up was a 3/4-mile barefoot beach run. In order to move on to the final test, the contestants had to complete the run in under six minutes, fighting the fatigue brought on by the ocean swim, sprinting down the beach after about 15 minutes' rest. Though the effort was clear from her pained expression, McShane maintained her stride, and finished in a solid 4 minutes, 43 seconds.
Then it was back to the pool for the final challenge, a one-lap sprint to a mannequin waiting at the other end of the pool, and a "cross-chest carry" of the mannequin back to the starting point. After the long swim and run, this test was relatively easy, and McShane finished without a problem.
Those who had passed all four tests -- 64 competitors -- gathered in a West Bathhouse meeting room, hoping their combined performances had qualified them for one of 30 full-time or 15 part-time jobs available at the seven Long Island parks staffed by Jones Beach guards. "I'm just wondering if I'll get anything," said McShane, who, despite her nervousness, thought she did well overall.
One by one, lifeguard director Joe Scalise called the names of the top finishers. McShane's vindication came after an agonizing wait, when her name was finally announced, and she proudly claimed a lifeguard's job at Heckscher State Park. Relieved, she said "I was very happy to finally become part of the Jones Beach Lifeguard Corps and am looking forward to many great summers."
Standing not far from McShane in line that morning was 34-year-old Tom Londino of Merrick. Though he has been a lifeguard for 18 years at the Town of Brookhaven Park, this was Londino's first try at the Jones Beach test. "This will be very challenging because of the conditions," he said, "The initial shock of getting in the water will be tough."
Londino, who has a master's in English education from C.W. Post and a 10-year-old tattoo of a sunburst on his back, teaches sophomores and juniors English at Farmindale High School. He and his wife of 2 1/2 years moved to Merrick almost a year ago to the day, and he had come in search of a summer job that is closer to his new hometown. After diving into the pool for a quick warmup swim before his 100-yard sprint, Londino's only comment was, "Cold -- just cold."
A few minutes later, he slapped the wall at the end of the 100 in 1:07, about two seconds slower than he'd hoped. "That was terrible!" he yelped.
"Terrible," of course, is all relative for Londino, who played lacrosse as an undergraduate at C.W. Post, coaches the JV lacrosse team at South Side High School in Rockville Centre and is a superbly conditioned athlete. He is one of the top triathlon competitors in the metropolitan area, and is nearing the end of his training for the Lake Placid Ironman in late July, a grueling event comprising a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run. Londino is so dedicated to his training that he rode 55 miles on his bike the day before the Jones Beach test.
As a master of endurance events, his major complaint about the lifeguard tests was that they were too short. "They should make 'em all twice as long," he joked at one point.
His other problem, on a breezy day at Jones Beach, was his chiseled 5-foot-10, 158-pound physique, which lacks any discernible body fat. After the ocean swim, during which Londino concentrated on taking long strokes of freestyle and trying to stay comfortable -- or as comfortable as possible in a crowd of flailing arms and hard-kicking legs in breathtakingly cold water -- he was unable to get warm back on the beach. "I'm used to pain and recovery, but the conditions are killing me," he said, his lips quivering as he tried to suck some Accelerade energy gel out of a tube. "I just can't get warm."
He was only too happy to take off on the 3/4-mile run, which he finished in a blazingly fast 3:29. Only one other competitor was faster. "Do I get a special prize for the second-fastest run of the day?" Londino said back in the pool after breezing through the mannequin rescue. "Maybe a kick in the ass?"
His prize, instead, was what he came for: a lifeguarding job -- as it happened, alongside McShane at Heckscher State Park. He admitted to hoping for a spot at Jones Beach or at Sunken Meadow State Park, where he has done a lot of training, but, he said, "I knew the right thing to do was to get a position somewhere. I'm looking forward to it."
