15 beach patrols compete in eight events testing their lifesaving skills
WILDWOOD – The Brigantine City Beach Patrol won the first of the “Big Three” late-season lifeguard races Friday, July 25, taking the Dutch Hoffman Memorials by scoring in five of the eight races, winning two.
The Longport Beach Patrol finished second with 16 points and the Ocean City Beach Patrol was a close third with 15, earning points in six of the events.
The Avalon Beach Patrol was fourth with 13 points and Margate City Beach Patrol fifth with 12 points.
Longport’s veteran duo of Sean Duffey and Mike McGrath won the opening doubles row with Margate’s Bob Bechtel and Hayden Smallwood second.
Brigantine picked up its first points of the night by taking third with the crew of Joe Savell and Brendan Savell. Atlantic City’s Nick Guidera and Vince Granese were fourth and the Wildwood Beach Patrol’s home crew of John Livingstone and Pat Clemens were fifth.
Brigantine padded its lead when standout paddleboarder Grace Emig won the women’s event a good distance ahead of the field. She was leading Ocean City’s Brynn Gallagher when she caught a wave and glided into the beach. Gallagher was second, Sea Isle City’s Kylie Fry third, Longport’s Megan Fox fourth and Margate’s Marina Zapping fifth.
In back-to-back events, Avalon picked up a pair of wins courtesy of former standout athletes from Ocean City High School.
Swimmer Dolan Grisbaum won the swim and Matt Hoffman took the men’s one-mile run.
It looked like a battle for first between Margate’s Zach Vassar and Brigantine’s James Haney as they came to shore in a direct course, but Grisbaum took a different angle, got up in the surf and outran both to the finish. Vassar was second, Haney third, Upper Township’s Logan Manning fourth and Ocean City’s Jacob Texter fifth.
Hoffman, a 2024 OCHS grad, won the run.
He said he was happy to win a race in a lifeguard competition that matched him. “My last name’s Hoffman, so it’s pretty fitting,” he said. Hoffman said his strategy to let the other runners “eat the wind” so he held back and stayed behind them for most of the course “and once I got to the last quarter mile, just haul them down one by one.”
The past times he ran in the event he finished sixth and fourth.
To win this time, he said, “feels great.”
Wildwood’s TJ Zwall was second, Avalon’s George Hohenleitner third, Cape May’s Mike Fitzpatrick fourth and Ocean City’s Ryan McGinley fifth.
Wildwood Crest’s Maddie Priest and Ocean City’s Georgina Chalow had similar strategies. They went out together and stayed together, leading the pack of runners from the 15 patrols. Priest’s kick at the end was enough to secure the win. Chalow was second, Brigantine’s Megan Winterbottom picked up third, Atlantic City’s Samie Ghazal was fourth and Stone Harbor’s Olivia Orton was fifth.
“I wanted to stick with Ocean City girl,” Priest said. “She’s talented and she’s fast, and I knew that I wanted to work on my kick at the end so that’s exactly what I did.”
Going around the last turnaround, “I was like, it’s time to go. And I did. I just tried my best to maintain that and bring it home,” Priest said.
She noted it was the first time she won the event after four tries.
“Every single year, I’ve gotten second or worse, so this is a good feeling for sure,” she said.
While Priest said she was concerned with Ocean City’s runner, Ocean City’s runner was focused on her.
“I was just trying to stick with her and then maybe I’ll kick past her at the end, but she had me,” Chalow said. “But it was a fun race.”
The Vineland High School grad, who is headed to American University, where she’ll run cross country and track and field, was amused when she learned Priest was thinking as hard about her and she was about Priest.
Chalow noted running on soft sand is not the same as being on the track or a cross-country course, much less the boardwalk.
“It’s definitely harder with it being almost high tide,” she said. “I’ve been trying to run a little bit on the beach.”
The Dutch Hoffman’s was actually the first lifeguard competition for Chalow, who is in her second year on the OCBP.
The Wildwood Beach Patrol, which finished sixth overall as a team, picked up big points when John Livingstone won the paddleboard. He was ahead of the field already when he caught a wave and rode it into the finish.
Ventnor’s Ben Iannelli was second, Margate’s Mitchell Zappone third, Ocean City’s Chase Ritter fourth, courtesy of a strong dash out of the surf, and Upper Township’s James Carr fifth.
Two days after winning the Cape May Point Beach Patrol Women’s Lifeguard Challenge, a grueling race that included two runs, a paddle and a swim, Avalon’s Becca Cubbler won the swim at the Dutch Hoffman’s. Longport’s Jordyn Ricciotti was second and Ocean City’s Rhylee Cornell was third.
Cornell said she knows she’s swimming against some tough competition with Cubbler, Ricciotti and others in the field.
“The competition is really fierce out there, but my mentality is to try to keep up with them as best as I can, even though they might absolutely fly by me,” Cornell said. “I really want to be up in that the crowd up front.” She said they can help her navigate.
Cornell has scored for the OCBP in other lifeguard races this season.
Upper Township’s Ava Smith was fourth in the swim and Sea Isle’s Mary Kate Leonard was fifth.
In the final event of the night, Longport’s McGrath won the singles row, after pairing with Duffey to win the doubles.
Wildwood Crest’s Jake Klecko was second, Ventnor’s Matt Spiers was third, Cape May’s Kate Luft was fourth and Sea Isle’s Danny Rogers fifth.
Next Friday night, Aug. 1, is the second of the big three, the Margate WWII Memorials and on Friday, Aug. 8, Avalon will host the South Jersey Lifeguard Championship, trying to defend its 2024 title. The Margate and Avalon races are more traditional, featuring only a doubles row, swim and singles row.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
