Avalon wins Cape May County Championships; Sea Isle City a close second
WILDWOOD CREST – The Avalon Beach Patrol set the tone early for the Cape May County Lifeguard Championships Friday evening at the Rambler Road beach, winning the doubles and going on to take the overall title.
The Sea Isle City Beach Patrol came in a close second with 22 points to Avalon’s 26. The Wildwood Beach Patrol was third and Cape May Beach Patrol fourth, both with 19 points. (Wildwood won on a tie-breaker.) The Ocean City Beach Patrol was fifth with 11 points.
Gary Nagle and Dave Giulian were determined to win the opening doubles row after finishing second last year at the competition and that determination paid off. They won in a time of 13 minutes and 9 seconds.
“Our strategy was to keep a good course. The current was ripping,” Nagle said. “We didn’t want to follow the pack. We wanted to do our thing … and we wanted to come in where the swells were and it really paid off.”
Giulian noted their practice also paid off because after getting turned on a wave they were able to quickly correct course. “Coming in second last year definitely hurt so we wanted to come out on top this year,” he added.
Andrew Treffeisen and Mike Fitzpatrick of the Cape May Beach Patrol were second in 13:24, Wildwood Crest’s Terry McGovern and Jake Klecko were third (13:25), Wildwood’s Brandon Joyce and Cainan Noon were fourth (14:04) and Sea Isle City’s Danny Rogers and Pat Scannopieco were fifth (14:04.)
In the third event of the night, the open box swim, Avalon earned its second win courtesy of Ocean City High School graduate Dolan Grisbaum, who is now swimming for Boston University. He was 32 seconds ahead of the next finisher, Sea Isle City’s Andrew Taylor (11:32). Grisbaum won in 10:58.
“It was kind of nerve-racking,” Grisbaum said about the first ocean race of the lifeguard season. “I won last year and I wanted to defend my title, but there are a lot of new competitors this year. I just wanted to have a fun time.”
Grisbaum said he didn’t change his strategy for the box swim, which features a run down the beach, racing out to a marker in the ocean, going parallel to the beach to the next marker, back to shore and then another run on the beach to the starting point. “I cruise the run – I don’t spend much time on strategy for the run because it’s a minor part of the race,” he said. Dolan said he tries to stay atop the water as they dash through the surf, rather than dolphin dive, pick up his pace out to the first marker, keep it going on the straightaway and then as “fast as I can go” to the finish.
Wildwood’s Brendan Lewis was third in the swim (11:45), Cape May’s Tye Manuel fourth (11:55) and Wildwood Crest’s Nick Patino fifth (13:30).
Sea Isle City’s Mary Kate Leonard won the women’s box swim, following teammate Taylor’s second-place finish. Leonard also won by a 32-second margin over Avalon’s Becca Cubbler, finishing in 12:49.
Leonard, in her second year on the Sea Isle City Beach Patrol, is a swimmer for Boston College where she will be a sophomore next fall. “It was really cool to hear everybody cheer for me and just being here with everyone is really fun,” she said about her first lifeguard competition win. She said her strategy was to stay as straight as possible, swim a good course, “stay strong and come in fast.”
Leonard said the ocean swims differ from a pool races where the focus is speed because swimmers also need to plot the best course in the ocean for the best chance at winning. “You still have to be fast,” she noted.
Wildwood’s Bella Taylor was third (13:36), Cape May’s Kate Luff fourth (13:38) and Ocean City’s Ava Berzanski fifth (13:54).
Sea Isle picked up its biggest win of the night when Corbin King won the paddleboard in 7:56, 6 seconds ahead of Cape May’s Clay Stevens. Ocean City’s Andrew Shaw was third (8:10), Wildwood’s Patrick Clemmens fourth (8:17), and North Wildwood’s Stephen Cassel fifth (8:24).
Ocean City’s first-place win came in the women’s paddleboard courtesy of Mia Gallagher with a time of 9:15. Cape May’s Kennedy Campbell was second (9:27), Wildwood Crest’s Maddie Priest was third (9:30), Avalon’s Alyssa Sittineri was fourth (9:35) and Wildwood’s Tess McVan was fifth (9:38).
Avalon boosted its winning chances when Erich Wolf won the singles row in 5:18.
Clemmens made a charge late when he caught a wave and Wolf’s boat was turned around in the surf, but Wolf righted himself and rowed to the finish with 6 seconds to spare.
Cape May’s Treffeisen was third (5:30), Sea Isle’s Rogers fourth (5:32) and Wildwood Crest’s Klecko fifth (5:34).
Wildwood Crest’s anchor man in the final event of the evening, the surf dash, helped his team to the victory when he dove for the finish line to beat Wildwood. The Crest team of Brett Pedersen, Terry McGovern, Jake Klecko, Roman Volnea and Sophia Jurasz won in 4:03. Wildwood’s team of Thomas Sampson, Dylan Hagen, Matt Comas, Connor Ewart, Ben Melle and Tess McVan was second in 4:03. (The four-person teams included alternates.)
Sea Isle’s Andrew Tomey, Tucker DeLuca, Rob Dougherty Jr., Matt Pete and Kaitlyn Hnatkowsky were third (4:20), Avalon’s Click Killian, Justin Rhyme, John McDonnell, Colin Rosser and Alyssa Sittineri was fourth ((4:28) and Ocean City’s John Hladun, Frank Christy, Thatcher Hamill and Kat Soanes was fifth (4:29).
Story and photos by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff