As he stood before the judge’s stand at the 17th Street beach in Surf City on Aug. 7, Ryan Corcoran’s face was stone cold. Two years ago, the last time he had been in the position of anchoring the Harvey Cedars Beach Patrol’s Surf Dash Relay team, the stakes weren’t high – in fact, there were no stakes, since the Vikings were well on their way to victory.

But on Saturday, with the Long Beach Island Lifeguard Tournament title on the line, Corcoran and teammates Shane Stauffer and Pat Stasio had…