Ocean City lifeguards win final two events to top Wildwood Crest, Avalon and seven other patrols
WILDWOOD CREST — Every point counted as the Ocean City Beach Patrol came from behind to win the 2026 Cape May County Lifeguard Championship on July 10, besting host Wildwood Crest by one point.
The OCBP scored in all but one event to earn 26 points, including first place in the women’s swim and the exciting women’s and men’s surf dash races at the end to clinch the championship.
Wildwood Crest, the defending champion, had 25 points and Avalon Beach Patrol came in third with 24 at the Rambler Road beach under gray, dripping skies and humid conditions.
The Cape May Beach Patrol was fourth overall with 13 points, followed by North Wildwood in fifth with 10. The Upper Township Beach Patrol also had 10 points, but lost the doubles row tie-breaker. Sea Isle City had 9 points, Stone Harbor had 7, Wildwood 4 and Cape May Point 1.
“Our beach patrol celebrated an incredible victory at the Cape May County Lifeguard Championships last night,” OCBP Chief Erich Becker said Saturday morning. “Watching our athletes give their all, showcasing their skills and dedication while having fun, filled me with pride. Let’s keep this momentum going — let’s go, Ocean City!”
Those final surf dash races kept the championship up in the air until the finish with Ocean City, Wildwood Crest and Avalon fighting for the lead.
With six events down and two to go, Ocean City was in third place with 14 points. Wildwood Crest was leading with 18 and Avalon in second with 17.
The OCBP women’s surf dash team of Abby Hays, Chloe Care, Grace Cullen and Claudia Booth won, earning the team 6 points, but Avalon was second and Wildwood Crest third.
“I thought it was a great race. We really came into this with a vengeance,” Care said after the meet. “We came into this with an open mind, but we really were hoping to get out there and beat some teams and the conditions were perfect.”
“I thought it was really fun,” Booth said. “For the most part it was a good sprint (as opposed to swim), and I think that’s definitely one of our strong suits.”
“I wanted to start us off on a good foot,” Hays said. “I knew that the energy was up, so I wanted to keep that rolling. Everybody did so awesome and we were able to pull through, so it was really great.”
“I thought the energy was high and we came out on top, so it was a great race,” Cullen added.
Heading into the final event, the men’s surf dash, Ocean City was still behind with 20 points. Wildwood Crest and Avalon led with 21 each. It was close throughout and it took until the final leg of the four-man event to set the OCBP apart.
“We wanted to front-load our lineup,” OCBP’s Andrew Shaw said, “so we put Matt (Bell) first, Wyatt (Clayton) second to get out and be in contention. I just wanted to hold and then Jack (Behm) surprised us all and got that wave and brought it home.”
“We were looking at the conditions before our race started and I was trying to observe whether I could use my height to my advantage a little bit, to step over those waves,” Bell said. “Luckily I could. We were front-loaded from the beginning and I wanted to give the guys a good lead-off too. I think it worked out. Our rookie (Behm) caught a wave right at the end. It was a great race.”
“I knew that I’m good getting out, but I always have more trouble getting back in,” Clayton said. “So for this one, I really had to dig deep so I could hand it off to Shaw and Jack and they did it once I gave it to them.”
Although Behm was in second a little behind Wildwood Crest’s anchor starting back to shore, he was able to catch a wave and body surf into the lead. He stood up and raced up the beach for the win.
“My teammates helped me,” Behm said. “We wouldn’t be in that position without them, so credit to them.”
He said the women winning gave them extra motivation.
“They lit the fire and we kept it going,” Behm said.
Ocean City didn’t score in the event before the surf dashes. Wildwood Crest’s Jake Klecko won the singles row with Avalon’s Ryan Finnegan second and Cape May’s Mike Fitzpatrick third.
The two events before that, however, Ocean City picked up 10 of its points.
In the women’s paddleboard, OCBP guard Brynn Gallagher and Wildwood Crest’s Lauren Crouthamel were neck and neck riding their boards to shore and were shoulder to shoulder starting the run on the beach, but Crouthamel got to the finish first. Gallagher’s second place was worth 4 points. Upper Township’s Gemma Kohles was third and Sea Isle City’s Kylie Fry fourth.
In the women’s box swim, Ocean City’s Rhylee Cornell won to add 6 points to the OCBP total.
Asked about her strategy, Cornell smiled. “I honestly didn’t really have one. I said this on Tuesday (at the Longport Women’s Lifeguard Invitational) — strategy will win over skill, but I got lost. I’m not going to lie.”
Running out she felt good with the goal of being at least in the middle of the pack. She took the lead.
“I’ve never really been ahead of the group going in,” she said, “so I turned around the first buoy and I went out too far, maybe an extra 100,” she said. “Honestly, I felt really good. The water couldn’t be more perfect. I caught a wave on the way in. The run to the finish is always the toughest. Your legs are like noodles.”
She was excited to be swimming with her brother Ryan Cornell, in the men’s open swim event a little ahead of her. He finished fifth for a critical point.
“My dad was a paddleboard champion like many times,” she said. “It’s cool to have another Cornell who finally won something again at Cape May Counties. It’s my first time getting first place in a race.”
Upper Township’s Logan Manning won the open swim, with Avalon’s Tim Hanway second, Stone Harbor’s Jonah Alvarez third and Sea Isle City’s Kevin Cary fourth.
Cape May’s Clay Stevens finished last in the swim. He also finished first in the paddleboard event right before the swim.
Stevens laughed about his strategy doing both events.
“I just want to dominate. That was the goal, to get some real distance,” he said about the paddleboard race. “I wanted to get the lead early and just carry it on. I wanted to hammer it hard. I knew going into the race I was in pretty good shape.” Stevens added he didn’t want to leave it to chance if one of his competitors caught a wave coming in to overtake him.
“I was hoping to get a lead early and then be able to take the run in (on the beach) easy, but I sprinted the run at the end and paid for that in the swim,” he said. “It was not the wisest decision. I think that’s the last time I do it.”
Stevens, who has been on the Cape May Beach Patrol for seven years, won the race two years ago but last year was recuperating from a torn ACL and didn’t compete.
“It was great to have a good recovery and come back and win it,” he said.
North Wildwood’s Lucas DeFruscio was second in the paddleboard, Sea Isle’s Dusty Laricks third, Wildwood Crest’s Gabe McDevitt fourth and — for another key point — Ocean City’s Frank Christy fifth.
Avalon’s Matt O’Connor and Jack Glomb won the opening doubles row with Wildwood Crest’s Klecko and John Steiger second, Cape May’s Mike Fitzpatrick and Andrew Trefffeisen third and Ocean City’s Matt Oves and Jay Stokes fourth.
“It really shows that literally every point counts,” OCBP Capt. Paul Boardman said. “Sometimes you’re not that excited to get a fifth place that’s only a point, but then that comes down to us winning.”
When Ocean City was announced the overall winner during the awards ceremony at WCBP headquarters, Boardman ran up the ramp to collect the trophy with a big OCBP towel raised above his head as the team cheered.
“We have some (veterans) and a lot of new people. We saw a great anchor in the surf dash from a rookie,” he said. “He goes into the water in second, comes out in first. That was huge. Our boat of Oves and Stokes, it’s their first time rowing doubles together. They put together a great race. And then Christy has been just a great paddler for us throughout the past couple years.
“Frank had it tonight and that single point that he got could have been the difference winning or losing. So every single point that these people put into it counts,” Boardman said.
“And then it comes down to the surf dash. That’s what these guys and girls do every day,” he said, racing into and out of the surf to protect people in the water. “They’re great at it in their daily jobs, so they’re great at it when it comes to competition.”
2026 Cape May County Lifeguard Championship
Team: 1. Ocean City, 26; 2. Wildwood Crest, 25; 3. Avalon, 24; 4. Cape May, 13; 5. North Wildwood, 10; 6. Upper Township, 10.
Doubles row: 1. Matt O’Connor-Jack Glomb, Avalon; 2. Jake Klecko-John Steiger, Wildwood Crest; 3. Mike Fitzpatrick-Andrew Treffeisen, Cape May; 4. Jay Stokes-Matt Oves, Ocean City; 5. Nick Ricci-Dante DeFruscio, North Wildwood.
Men’s box paddleboard: 1. Clay Stephens, Cape May; 2. Luca DeFruscio, North Wildwood; 3. Dustin Laricks, Sea Isle; 4. Gabe McDevitt, Wildwood Crest; 5. Frank Christy, Ocean City.
Men’s box swim: 1. Logan Manning, Upper Township; 2. Tim Hanway, Avalon; 3. Jonah Alvarez, Stone Harbor; 4. Kevin Cary, Sea Isle City; 5. Ryan Cornell, Ocean City.
Women’s box swim: 1. Rhylee Cornell, Ocean City; 2. Reese Hetzer, Stone Harbor; 3. Katie Scanlon, Avalon; 4. Delaney Burns, Sea Isle City; 5. Ava Smith, Upper Township.
Women’s box paddleboard: 1. Lauren Crouthamel, Wildwood Crest: 2. Brynn Gallagher, Ocean City; Maddie Priest, Wildwood Crest; 3. Gemma Kohles, Upper Township; 4. Kylie Fry, Sea Isle City; 5. Brianna McFerran, North Wildwood.
Singles row: 1. Jake Klecko, Wildwood Crest; 2. Ryan Finnegan, Avalon; 3. Mike Fitzpatrick, Cape May; 4. Vince Fitzpatrick Jr., Wildwood; 5. Ben Swan, Cape May Point.
Women’s surf dash: 1. Abby Hays, Chloe Care, Grace Cullen, Claudia Booth, Ocean City; 2. Gallagher, Bryan, Schmidt, Worton, Avalon; 3. Frederick, Sweet, Priest, Lakofski, Wildwood Crest; 4. Henry, Melle, O’Brien, McFerran, North Wildwood; 5. Back, Petrick, Satt, Groetsch, Cape May.
Men’s surf dash: 1. Jack Behm, Matt Bell, Wyatt Clayton, Andrew Shaw, Ocean City; 2. Voinea, Klecko, Reed, Litynskij, Wildwood Crest; 3. McDonnell, Wiley, Bock, Bogle, Avalon; Rosenello, McCain, McCray, Bostwick, North Wildwood; 5. Comas, Kitching, Kitching, Lewis, Wildwood.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff