By Evan Mugford
Staff Writer
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Just when lifeguards thought it was safe for competition, the Salisbury Beach lifeguard team re-emerged as New England's lifesaving alpha predator.
For the second year in row, Salisbury's finest, helmed by head lifeguard Fletcher Wasson and lifeguard supervisor George Nigro, captured the Northern New England Lifesaving Championship at a packed Ogunquit Beach on Saturday in Maine.
Capping off a summer in which they recently won their second straight Department of Conservation and Recreation Lifeguard Competition, the cast of 25 has seized four successive lifesaving competitions from the best beaches that New England has to offer over the past two years.
And while Salisbury narrowly beat out Ogunquit in 2009 by a single point, Salisbury swept the 31st Northern New England Lifesaving Competition in dominating fashion by taking home first-place performances in the men's division, the women's division, and the overall division.
In addition to bringing home the competition's top three trophies, Salisbury also won 25 individual medals and two gold trophy cups for the Rescue Reel and Mystery events.
The men's team was composed of Wasson, C.J. Cronin, MacKenzie Wasson, Adam Eramo, Matthew Rosene, Matthew Nutter, and Ethan Sullivan, and the women's team, which won every event it entered, was Meghan Feran, Aimee Doe, Amy Fay, and Chelsea Foley.
"I would say that this is the deepest team we've ever had," said Nigro, who will be stepping down from his post after some 27 summers at Salisbury. "Considering we have 25 people working here in comparison to the days when we had 57, I believe these guys could beat those older teams.
"They had a lot of heart back then, but this year, just to be on the team was a challenge."
Wasson, who will also be stepping away after five years of service along the Salisbury shores, gave credence to the unique nature of his team.
"We're definitely a close-knit group of people because we all work together, live together and socialize together, and at work we undergo rigorous training and participate in really stressful rescues and emergencies together," said Wasson, who gave thanks to the part-time guards who stuck around over the weekend to watch the beach. "But I think the key is that we all work really well together as a team. We have some awesome athletes, but at the same time, we work really hard at this and we're a dedicated group of people who try to improve every day."
Featuring teams from southern Maine, New Hampshire and southern New England, teams from beaches like Nantasket, Old Orchard and Kennebunk did their best to sink Salisbury's surging fleet.
Heading into the day, Wasson explained that the stress of staying on top was high.
"During the DCR events, we're pretty confident because we've trained a lot and we have a tremendous group of athletes here," Wasson said. "But the New England competition is pretty much the best of the best, so there was definitely a lot of pressure on us to do well, especially considering how we won first place last year."
Out of the day's 16 events, each including some form of paddling, running, swimming, the names of Salisbury lifeguards were a constant in top finisher lists.
"This year was actually stronger than last year," Nigro said. "There was a lot of pressure on our guys to perform last year, but this year, our girl team was extremely talented. I could have sent any one of the girls to the competition. They have athletic ability and are just hard workers."
With fond memories of lifeguards past like Salisbury's Robert "Boot" Chouinard and Haverhill's Rick Battistini, Nigro, a former lifesaving competitor in his heyday, is leaving his post at the top.
"It's a good way to end on a high note. It's time to spend time with my family; I have a little boy who's going to be a first-grader," Nigro said. "I think I've done my thing here and someone else should have a start at it. I'm just proud to have worked here with all of the guards and people at the Salisbury Beach."
