Two Catawba College students will soon be shagging at the beach – North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, that is.

Students Laurel Edge of Waxhaw and Johnathon Boles of Salisbury are competing Jan. 31 in the collegiate category at the preliminaries of the National Shag Dance Competition held at the Spanish Galleon in North Myrtle Beach.

Edge and Boles, who have no previous competitive experience, were recruited to represent Catawba in the competition by fellow Catawba student Justin Burroughs of Salisbury, a veteran shagger turned shag coach.

“I felt that having a Catawba pair compete would help expand recognition for our college,” Burroughs explained.

A few years ago, the board of the National Shag Dance Championships got the idea to try and get more college-aged individuals interested in the state dance of North and South Carolina while raising money for a good cause. The idea was to select one couple from as many local colleges as possible and pair them up with a shag instructor.

Burroughs, with four years of competitive shag dancing experience, is a chemistry major, while Edge is majoring in theater arts, and Boles, in biology.