This year was a battle to the finish; Sea Isle second, Margate third
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
LONGPORT – The Longport Beach Patrol defended its South Jersey Lifeguard Championship Friday night – its fifth win in a row – but it wasn’t easy. The rowers and swimmers from the other patrols did all they could to end Longport’s reign.
With the Margate City Beach Patrol winning the doubles and Sea Isle City’s Danny Rogers winning the singles, Longport still earned enough points to hold off all of the other patrols in the South Jersey Lifeguard Chiefs Association.
Longport won only one of the three races – a farewell victory for University of Tennessee swimmer Joey Tepper, a three-time South Jersey champion. The host patrol had to rely on high finishes in the other races, including an exhaustive effort for second place by singles rower Mike McGrath in the last race of the night to earn enough points for the team title.
Past champions Chris Graves and Chuck Gowdy won another South Jersey doubles title despite not rowing together in a race this season. The veteran crew spent the summer helping forge the future of rowing on the Margate patrol.
“Well, Chuck (Gowdy) and I have been rowing for years but we haven’t raced yet this year,” Graves said after the race that opened the championship. “This is the first time we got in the boat besides city racing. So we know how fast Longport is. They won every race this year by a lot. They’re the cream of the crop.”
Graves said the duo’s strategy was to get out to a lead early and then hold off Longport, which was in the neighboring lane..
“When we got our lane draw, one and two, we were happy because we knew if we could get out, we could dictate things,” Graves said. “And we did, but they are a helluva crew. They were catching swells the whole way in and we just got one to take the lead. Usually we get more swells than we did. It’s cliche, but that’s ocean racing.”
Graves said he and Gowdy are both 39 years old and want to get younger rowers’ more experience.
“We’re getting toward the twilight of our beach careers and we don’t want to leave the cupboard bare,” he said. “We want to have the young guys ready to go when we’re done. I did a couple of races with Chris Spiers who is the 2019 singles champion in South Jerseys, and Hayden Smallwood, Bob Bechtel rowed. Hayden and Chris rowed together. It was really trying to get them to learn all year because that’s the future.”
That may be the future, but Graves was relishing the present Friday night.
“I got second in South Jerseys probably four times before I won it so I don’t take any South Jersey race for granted,” he said. “I know I only have a limited amount so I’m happy to win it. It’s as good as the first one.”
Future Dr. Tepper
repeats in swim
Tepper won his third consecutive South Jersey swim championship, but Avalon lifeguard Dolan Grisbaum, a 2020 Ocean City High School grad, kept the race close. Mainland Mustang junior Zach Vasser wasn’t far behind in third place
The two lead swimmers took different paths to the finish. In the two most recent races – Margate World War II Memorials and Dutch Hoffman Memorials – Grisbaum followed Tepper’s path, which he liked because it saved him from having to navigate the course. This time they diverged, but Dolan did a good job on his own as a massive crowd on the Longport beach cheered for the two swimmers. Tepper approached the finish from the north and Grisbaum came in straight on.
“When we were warming up I noticed the white flag was kind of parallel to the finish so when I saw Joey … was about two flags over I knew I’d have to do it by myself and hope for the best and see my course,” Grisbaum said. “I was pretty close coming in. I’m surprised because for the past two races I’ve been following him coming in. This time I took a little risk and I think it paid off.”
“It’s all up to him from now on,” Tepper said, patting Grisbaum on the shoulder as the two stood at the finish waiting for the rest of the field to complete the race.
“Take it kind of easy on the surf dash because these races aren’t won in the first 10 seconds,” Tepper said about his successful game plan. “And as soon as the real swimming starts, go as fast as I can for the full time. That’s pretty much always been my strategy and worked pretty well.”
Tepper, who has been on the Longport Beach Patrol for four years, is retiring from the patrol. He is going into his sophomore year at the University of Tennessee.
He said he has to focus on his professional future, meaning an internship next summer.
“It’s time to start looking at real-life jobs, for lack of a better term,” Tepper, an Egg Harbor Township High School graduate, said. “I mean maybe someday I’ll be back if I get a seasonal job. You never know, but I definitely need to start looking for an internship and I’d like to train with my swim coach down in Tennessee. We have better facilities down there.”
Tepper said he has enjoyed his time on the LBP.
“It’s a fun job especially if you work with your friends,” he said. “Sometimes if you work with someone you don’t like it can make for a long day but that never happens in Longport because I like pretty much everyone here.”
Tepper is double-majoring in chemistry and math at Tennessee and is aiming to go all the way to a Ph.D.
“I want to be a chem professor,” he said. “That’s my dream, to be called Dr. Tepper.”
Vasser was behind the leaders by about a minute.
“It feels great,” he said about getting third. “Tepper and Dolan, I’ve know them for a large part of my life and nothing but respect to them. “It’s great competing against them. And feels good to be kind of close to them. They’re a bit ahead of me, but I’ll get there one day.”
“Respect to everyone who swam today, but it’s a great feeling getting third place and getting points for my team,” Vasser said.
Singles row
Rogers earned his first South Jersey title for Sea Isle City in the singles row.
Asked how that felt, he underplayed it. “It’s not too bad.” Then he added, “It’s great.”
“I had a good start. The turn was a little rough but I got to the flag second or third and caught a couple good swells on the way in and that great wave at the end.”
He and Scannapieco earned second in the doubles row at the beginning of the meet which helped give Sea Isle City a second-place team finish overall.
“We’ve been rowing together for three seasons now so that was one of our best pulls ever,” Rogers said.
As for the team finish, he added, “Second place isn’t too bad. We’ll be back next year.”
McGrath was second behind Rogers and he stood up and threw down his oars when he crossed the finish line because he knew he secured the team victory for Longport.
His third-place finish with Duffey in the doubles factored into his singles row.
“Sean and I won every race except this one this year so it kind of hurt a little bit,” he said. “I was trying to use that as extra motivation.”
In that race, he said, “Margate got out on us from the start. I don’t think they gained any ground until the last little bit. It was an even race. They’re a veteran crew. It’s the only race they rowed out here, but they’re always going to be great.”
McGrath knew he was near the front of the pack on the way back from the flags in the half-mile singles row. His plan was simple: “Just row as hard as I could and leave everything out there.
It builds the motivation coming in if you get a little bit of a lead coming in. It drives the adrenaline a little bit more to keep on going.” Sounded as exhausted as he looked from that row, he added, “I’m so tired.”
He acknowledged this South Jersey championship wasn’t easy.
“It was a real tough one this year,” McGrath said. “It means a lot. What is it, five in a row now? I don’t think that’s been done in a while. Hat’s off to Joey and Sean who come out and compete every week for us and congrats to Margate and Sea Isle. I think that’s his (Rogers’) first ever. That’s great for him.”
2021 South Jersey Lifeguard Championships
1.5 mile Doubles Row: 1st, Chuck Gowdy and Chris Graves, Margate, 15:39; 2nd, Danny Rogers and Pat Scannapieco, Sea Isle City, 15:42; 3rd, Mike McGrath and Sean Duffey, Longport, 15:43; 4th, Brett Hanson and David Funk, Ventnor, 15:44; 5th, Terry McGovern and Darrick Kobierowski, Wildwood Crest, 16:03.
Quarter-Mile Ocean Swim:
1st, Joey Tepper, Longport, 15:50; 2nd, Dolan Grisbaum, Avalon, 16:01; 3rd, Zach Vasser, Margate, 16:54; 4th, Brett Pedersen, Wildwood Crest, 18:00; 5th, Brendan Lewis, Wildwood, 18:01.
Quarter-Mile Singles Row: 1st, Danny Rogers, Sea Isle City, 5:54; 2nd, Mike McGrath, Longport, 6:04; 3rd, David Funk, Ventnor, 6:09; 4th, Darrick Kobierowski, Wildwood Crest, 6:09.15; 5th, Ryan Dunn, Ocean City, 6:09.16.
Team Results: 1st, Longport, 12 points; 2nd, Sea Isle City, 9 points; 3rd, Margate, 8 points; 4th, Ventnor, 5 points; 5th, Wildwood Crest, 5 points.
