When a girl was injured at a Columbus area pool earlier this year, the training Abbey Karns received in obtaining her lifeguard certification kicked into gear.

Karns, a Troy High School graduate and student at Otterbein College in Westerville, was one of the lifeguards on duty at Kinsale Golf and Fitness Club in Powell and was first responder to the accident.

“I responded immediately along with the rest of the lifeguard staff, who did a great job,” she said. “911 was called and once they (local ambulance crews) arrived, they took over.”

A lifeguard for six years, Karns is certified through the YMCA. She worked at the Piqua Country Club for four years before taking the Powell supervisor lifeguard job when she moved to Westerville year round for college.

Because of legal issues, she cannot talk in detail about what happened the day the young girl was injured.

Karns said she has kept in touch with the girl and her family: “She is doing much better, and (is) back to her beautiful, happy self,” she said.

The Labor Day Weekend save was the first for Karns in her years as a lifeguard.

“At the time the incident happened, I just reacted. I can’t really explain how I felt other than I kept thinking of what I needed to do next to keep her calm and safe,” she said. “I think my adrenaline kicked in during the save. After EMS took over, I was emotional. I felt so bad for the little girl and everything I saw and did that day I will never forget.”

Karns is thankful for her training, and for how she responded.

“It feels good to use my skills but, at the same time, they were skills I was hoping to never have to use,” she said.

The daughter of Tom Karns and Jodell Karns she has a brother, TJ, who also is a Troy graduate.

Karns is studying athletic training and hopes to go into physical therapy. She is active in Otterbein life as a member of Sigma Alpha Tau sorority and on the executive board of Up Till Dawn, a campus student organization. She is on the executive board of a student run organization for athletic training majors and is working with a group of students and professors to make the campus smoke free.