Yorktown Swimmer Represents U.S. in Japan
It may not be the Olympics, but for lifeguards it’s about as close as it gets on an international stage, and Yorktown resident Caren Guyett is one of a select few chosen to represent the United States.
Guyett, 23, a 2007 Lakeland High School graduate and a swim coach at the Boys and Girls Club in Mount Kisco, is in Japan as a proud member of the United States Lifesaving Association National Team competing with 11 teammates in the Sanyo Bussan International Lifesaving Cup.
“I have no idea what to expect. It’s a little scary, but that’s how I know it’s worth it,” Guyett said last week before boarding a plane for the 20-hour flight, her first trip outside the United States, other than a drive to Canada. “I know that once I get up to the starting line I’ll be just as competitive as ever. That’s how I am and I can’t turn it off.”
Six men and six women are on the U.S. team. Guyett, who has been a lifeguard on Long Beach Island since 2008, qualified with a strong performance at the USLA National Lifeguard Championships last month in Cape May, N.J., where she finished fifth overall among 2,000 participants.
“I swam three events. My places in the events were the reason they contacted me. I was surprised,” she said. ‘I just never thought that would really happen. I took a good hour to collect myself before I called them back.”
Guyett first dipped her toe in the competitive waters when she was seven on a Yorktown summer swim team. The next year she joined the Marlins swim team in Mount Kisco, the same team she has coached for the last two years.
“She’s a great coach. She gets a lot out of the kids and she knows how to go about it,” said Dennis Munson, aquatic director at the Boys and Girls Club. “She still hops in the pool with them and does laps with them. The kids love it.”
Munson recalled Guyett’s days as a Marlin and wasn’t surprised by her recent accomplishment.
“Caren was a distance freestyler. She loved the long races. She really excelled in them,” Munson said. “She’s very quiet and doesn’t say much of anything. One day she just said to us I have to go to Japan for a week. She made it sound like it was no big deal. It’s exciting.”
Brian Skanes, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club, said everyone at the club is rooting for Guyett.
“We think it’s a tremendous honor for her to get to represent the United States. I think it speaks to the quality of our aquatic staff,” Skanes said.
Guyett swam for Lakeland’s high school squad since she was a seventh grader. She attended Colgate University on a swimming scholarship and was on the Patriot League First Team for four straight years. She broke four time records while at Colgate and was named to the Patriot League All Academic Team her senior year. She is currently studying psychology in graduate school at Fordham University.
After her junior year at Colgate, Guyett trained at USC with six-time Olympic medalist Rebecca Soni and Jessica Hardy, who won two medals at the 2012 London Games.
Guyett contributed part of her success at the Lifeguard Championships in Cape May to her training last year at Cross Fit Athletic Performance in Yorktown.
“That was the first time I was pushed on land. They have really tough workouts that sometimes I hated and sometimes I loved,” she said. “I think Cross Fit really helped me gain a lot of strength.”
The competition in Japan lasts just two days, but Guyett will also have an opportunity to help bring home the gold for her country at the ILS World Championships in Australia in November.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
