Monmouth County patrol edges Margate, Ocean City in Women’s Lifeguard Invitational
OCEAN CITY — After finishing second last year, the Sea Girt Beach Patrol came to win July 14 at the Ocean City Beach Patrol Women’s Lifeguard Invitational.
Sea Girt amassed 14 points over the five events at the 58th Street beach, topping the Margate City Beach Patrol (13) and the OCBP (9) on a windy evening. The Sea Isle City Beach Patrol finished fourth (8) and the Cape May Beach Patrol fifth (7).
Lt. Todd Sudol, the SGBP’s competition team captain and training officer, said he was “really proud of our girls.”
“We are very lucky at Seagirt Beach to have a lot of girls that work on our beach, a lot of girls that train every day,” he said. “And even though we only had seven here tonight, I think the credit is to all of our girls at the beach because they all push each other and train together. The seven that were here tonight represented all of them.”
The Monmouth County crew traveled two hours to Ocean City, where its guards won two events and placed second in another to edge out Margate and the OCBP, last year’s winner.
Sudol said the patrol is happy to make the trip each year.
“These guys do an outstanding job with the course, the events, and just get after it,” he said.
Sea Girt’s Maddie Brennan teamed up with Emily Sudol to win the swim relay (8:17).
Brennan, who was one of three competitors to fall in a deep hole while rounding the flag on the beach, was second to make the tag after being passed by the Longport Beach Patrol’s Alivia Wainwright.
“There was a hole, it was soft sand and I just, my foot got caught,” Brennan said. “So, Emily made a great comeback. She’s a great runner and a swimmer, so she’s helping pick up some slack I accidentally had.”
Lt. Sudol said that early event, the second of the evening, set the patrol up for success.
He believed the race “just showed the other girls like, ‘Hey, you know what? Let’s make tonight our night. Let’s race our best. Let’s have some fun,” he said. “I think that got their excitement and adrenaline going. The mantra when I was talking to the girls … was just keep that momentum going, keep it going.”
The SGBP was followed by the Longport’s Wainwright and Jordyn Ricciotti (8:18), who won the event last year. The OCBP’s Rhylee Cornell and Emma Baird were third (8:42).
“It’s definitely pretty hard going out,” Cornell said, referring to the heavy northern current. “It’s a short race, so everyone is on top of each other and we all definitely swim as a group in a race like this. I definitely tried my best to get a lead for Emma for us to be in the top three.”
Baird, a rookie, credited Cornell for the team’s success.
“Rhylee just got a really good lead, so I was just trying to stay in front. I saw the other two girls in front of me the whole time, so I was just trying to make sure that I kept pace with them and just kept them in my sights,” Baird said.
The Atlantic City Beach Patrol’s Ady Elko and Rachel Yushon were fourth (8:45) and Wildwood Crest’s Lauren Crouthamel and Maddie Moore were fifth (9:04).
Sea Girt’s Ivy Slavinski and Sudol won the fourth event, the run/swim relay in 5:30.
“I went out really hard on the way out and just tried to fight on the way back,” said Slavinski, who is a rising freshman at Villanova University, where she will compete on the cross country and track teams.
Sea Girt was followed by Sofia Day and Ryan Cooke of the MCBP (5:40) and Grace Burns and Delaney Burns of the SICBP (5:46). Longport’s Ricciotti and Adrian Sykes finished fourth (5:54), while the CMBP’s Erin Smith and Madelyn Cassidy were fifth (5:56).
The MCBP won the final event, the surf dash (Ocean City High School grads Calli Duff, Kamryn Smallwood and Mainland Regional grads Ava McDole and Isabella Iordanov) in 2:15.16, along with its second place in the run/swim relay and sprint doubles (Alexis Smallwood, Kamryn Smallwood (4:13.74).
“We were a little scared because the sand’s really squishy and the rips are really bad over here, but, I mean, we made it work,”Iordanov said.
“Yeah, we go into it, cheer for our team, which makes it a lot of fun,” McDole said.
“We’re pretty fast girls, so this was a good race for us and we like to body surf, so we just have fun with it. We just have a good time,” Smallwood said.
The CMBP (Alexandra Back, Marla Groetsch, Riley Petrick and Reilly Satt) was second (2:15.72) and the Wildwood Crest Beach Patrol (Maddie Priest, Lauren Sweet, Emie Fredericks, Kailyn Lakofsky) third (2:16). The North Wildwood Beach Patrol was fourth (2:16.17) and the OCBP (Abby Hays, Chloe Care, Grace Cullen and Claudia Booth) fifth (2:16.85).
The OCBP’s Brynn Gallagher and rookie Ella Mokienko won the paddleboard relay in 5:51.
Mokienko, a rookie, said she was really excited about the races.
“Going out with Brynn has just been amazing. She’s been such a great, big role model to me, and getting to race with her today was such a great opportunity for me,” she said. “ I feel like the atmosphere is just electric today with all of us, and with Brynn getting the head start, that really had us locked for the win here.”
Gallagher, who won the event last year with sister Mia Gallagher, got off to a great start and led nearly the entire time.
“It was a little tricky with the current pushing me and after falling off at Longports (Longport Women’s Lifeguard Invitational on July 7), I was really like more focused on staying calm and like just making it to the beach because I knew with that short sprint, if I got away and I got in I would set Ella up in a great position,” she said.
The Ocean City resident also fell in the deep hole rounding the flag.
“Oh, my gosh, that was nuts, right? It’s just straight soft sand. It went above my knee, too, but that’s racing. It happens, I guess, on the beach,” Gallagher said.
They were followed by Sea Girt’s Sydney Vandeboe and Grace Barrows (6:01) and the Brigantine Beach Patrol’s Molly Hoffman and Grace Emig (6:27). The CMBP’s Back and Petrick were fourth (6:30) and Upper Township Beach Patrol’s Gemma Kohles and Lindsay Robbins fifth (6:31).
Sea Isle City sisters Molly Quinn and Maura Quinn won the opening event, the sprint doubles, in (3:59.34), followed by the MCBP and Charlotte Thomas and Leah Nirenberg of the Ventnor City Beach Patrol (4:16.03).
“Going into it, we wanted to be straight on our line; we didn’t want to row extra,” Molly Quinn said. “We just coursed the whole way through.”
They were third at the Longport event.
“That was one thing we wanted to work on. Our course wasn’t the greatest, and I think that was the one thing that we really needed to execute tonight,” Quinn added.
The sisters were first around the flag, but that doesn’t always mean they will get to the beach first.
“Definitely not. Not with this ocean tonight and with how short the spring doubles is,” Quinn said. “It’s anyone’s race, so it was nice to have our bow in front, but definitely wasn’t over.”
The UTBP’s Lorna Connell and Kailey Grimley were fourth (4:20.22) and the ACBP’s Madison Lisitsin and Emma Crozier fifth (4:28.65).
– STORY by CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
– PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
EDITOR’S NOTE: Some of the photos in the gallery are out of order.
