A pair of teenage lifeguards from Fort Dodge pulled two struggling swimmers from the choppy waters of West Lake Okoboji Sunday.
Alison Chambers, 16, and Ellie Savery, 17, are members of the Fort Dodge Senior High School swimming team and are lifeguards at Expo Pool on North Seventh Street.
''They just reacted,'' said Garrett Savery, who witnessed his daughter help rescue the two boys. ''Their instincts took over.''
The teens have been vacationing at the Dickinson County lake with Savery's parents, Garrett and Brenda Savery.
Sunday was a windy day and few people were in the lake because its surface had been whipped into whitecaps.
Chambers and the Savery family were relaxing on the dock at Fillenwarth Beach at about 1:30 p.m. when they and perhaps 50 other people heard the two boys yelling for help.
''I stood up and looked out into the water,'' Garrett Savery said. ''Right away you could tell that these kids were in trouble.''
He said his daughter and Chambers dove off the dock and swam about 25 yards to reach the boys. Along the way, they swam past one boy's father, who had also gone into the lake to attempt a rescue.
''They're on these kids immediately,'' Garret Savery said.
He said the teens put the boys in a ''lifesaving hold'' and swam back to the dock with them. He said he didn't think the boys required medical care.
Many of the bystanders on the dock thanked the teens after they got out of the water.
Garret Savery said he had no concerns about them going into the water because of their swimming skills and lifeguard training. He said he's very proud of both teens.
''It was something to behold,'' he said.
Attempts to reach Ellie Savery and Chambers were unsuccessful Tuesday evening. Chambers is the daughter of Rhonda Chambers, who is the director of aviation at the Fort Dodge Regional Airport.
The Dickinson County sheriff's office had no information on the incident.
Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or by e-mail at bshea@messengernews.net