Jellyfish make presence felt as added obstacle in 18th annual CMPBP race
CAPE MAY POINT — If you didn’t think the women on the local beach patrols were tough enough, you should have joined the spectators July 22 at St. Pete’s Beach to watch the 2026 Cape May Point Women’s Lifeguard Challenge.
The 54 competitors ran 1.25 miles on soft sand, paddled through tough currents for a mile in the Delaware Bay, then got out of the water and ran another 550 meters through soft sand to start the final leg — a 500-meter swim to the finish.
Winner Ivy Slavinski did it in just under 26 minutes. The slowest of the competitors did it in 40.
Did we mention they paddled and swam through swarms of stinging jellyfish? That was a first in the 18 years of the Cape May Point Beach Patrol event. The added obstacle(s) didn’t stop these competitors.
“It is an absolute honor to be able to provide a stage for the women to challenge themselves, their teammates and their fellow female guards mentally and physically,” Race Director Kristen Moorby said. “To say I’m impressed would be an understatement. It’s amazing to watch the entire competition field of various ages and experience levels support one another and charge through varying conditions and elements.”
She cited CMPBP Chief Ben Swan, who said, “It’s fun to watch the grit, strength and speed of the front-runners, but it’s almost more inspiring to see the heart and toughness of those in the back of the pack too. No one gives up!”
Women from 17 different patrols, most from Cape May and Atlantic counties, but also from Sea Girt, Sea Bright, Island Beach State Park and Ocean City, Md., took part.
For Slavinski, of the Sea Girl Beach Patrol, it was the 18-year-old’s third time competing and first win.
Asked about the tough parts of the race, she said the paddle was pretty bad because of the current, “but also just the fact that I know that there’s jellyfish everywhere and you’re actively getting stung and you’ve just got to keep going.”
However, “coming out of the paddle and running up the 400 (yards) to the swim is definitely the hardest part because your legs are dead and you’re just like, ‘OK, now I have to go jump in the water. And then coming around the swim, you’ve got to put your head down, and you’re literally getting wrapped in jellyfish tentacles, like on my whole arms. You could see the jellyfish lines and for some girls they’re all over, like my teammate (Skylar O’Keefe). You’ve got to keep grinding it.
“The whole thing is grueling, each leg, but definitely the jellyfish and the last part of the run,” Slavinski said.
The Sea Girt guard said the difference for her this year was having the experience of knowing the currents and planning for them. The prior year the currents took her out of contention on the paddleboard portion. The first year she competed, she came in second.
Slavinski and O’Keefe also won the team trophy with O’Keefe’s fifth-place finish overall. The meets are scored in cross-country fashion with one point for each place. The lowest point total wins.
“I’m so proud of Ivy for winning,” O’Keefe, 20, said, adding that it felt great to win the team title. “It’s good to come out here and do good. It’s a hard race.”
The SGBP from Monmouth County also won the Ocean City Beach Patrol Women’s Lifeguard Invitational on July 14, when Slavinski and teammate Emily Sudol won the run/swim relay.
On Wednesday, O’Keefe said she lost time going too far out in the swim.
“Next time I’d cut in earlier, but the swim is definitely the hardest. And the jellyfish, not ideal. Not ideal.” O’Keefe is in her fifth year on the Sea Girt patrol.
Katie Zgorski, 25, of the Ocean City, Md., Beach Patrol, finished second overall after running, paddling and swimming side by side with Slavinski through each portion of the race.
Slavinski finished the run first, Zgorski got to shore in the paddleboard first, but Slavinski beat her in the swim for the win.
Zgorski said she wasn’t affected as much by the jellyfish, but they did provide an extra motivation to go faster. She enjoyed the tight competition with Slavinski.
“It was great. I knew we were going to be neck and neck this year based off of last year; we were first together on the run and then on the paddle I was like, ‘I’m going to get her, I’m going to get her.’ I got her today finally,” she said.
Zgorski noted the current last year “was insane,” but this year it was “a little bit more even playing field because we didn’t have as many environmental factors to deal with besides the jellies. But yeah, I knew it was going to be a good, tight competition between us today.”
Racing with Slavinski was “very motivating. I think I’m a lot older than she is, so it’s even more motivating — ‘don’t let these young ones get me’ — but she got me on the swim.”
This was the third time she raced in the CMPBP’s Women’s Lifeguard Challenge. She finished third her first year when multiple-time winner Jenna Parker came back to the race and won again.
“This year, I knew what it took to get in the top three,” Zgorski said, even though she is part-time this year and not practicing her swimming as much.
She added she wasn’t disappointed “because I gave it all I had and I know she did as well, so it was fair and square.”
Grace Emig, a Brigantine Beach Patrol guard and champion paddleboard racer, thought she might have been the oldest competitor at the ripe old age of 27. Admittedly one of the slowest runners, she made up the time in the paddleboard and the swim and came in third overall.
“This race is always tough and when you add that (the jellyfish), you’re like, ‘Ahhh.’ I’m covered in them. I mean, the stings are everywhere. They’re all over my body,” she said.
Those squishy little stingers didn’t block Emig from her best finish ever.
“I’ve never done better than sixth place. I’ve been trying to get top five for 12 years,” she said.
“I started running this winter, just for fun. But I feel like this race is always motivation and I should probably get a little bit better at running because I’m always almost dead last in the run,” she said. “I make up for it in the paddle and in the swim a little bit, but it’s like, if I was a better runner, I’d do better in the race and I did it this year so I’m proud of myself.”
Teammate Molly Hoffman came in 14th overall and was excited that her placement helped Brigantine to a second-place team finish.
“I can’t believe it. Grace is just a beast, so I love following in her footprints. She’s just a great leader. I’m really happy that they put me on the A team with her,” Hoffman said. “I was like, pressure’s on, because I knew that she was going to kick some ass, so I’m just glad that I was able to get the job done with her.”
Hoffman added she’s “never been stung by a jellyfish in my life, so I was pretty shocked during the paddle. I was like, ‘Wow, this is a really crazy feeling. I wonder what this swim is going to be like.’
“And then the swim, I didn’t even swim. I just was like floating there, just getting stung. It was horrible.”
The jellies may have been horrible, but the competition was anything but.
“I just like being with all the girls from all the different beach patrols,” Hoffman said. “I’m friends with a lot of them and it’s just fun to see them and compete with them in a longer race than the typical lifeguard races that we see.”
She and Emig did agree they could do without the floating obstacles. “No jellyfish. Absolutely,” they said, laughing.
Longport Beach Patrol lifeguard Alivia Wainwright, 19, finished fourth overall. It as her first time competing in the Cape May Point race.
“I knew it was going to be hard coming into it, but I had no expectations. We all just came to have fun, and it was fun. It was very hard, though,” said Wainwright, who swims for Bucknell University after graduating from Mainland Regional High School last year.
“I thought the swim would be the easiest part, but it was the hardest part because it was at the end. It was very hard,” she said. “I’m really proud of myself and everyone who competed.”
Sisters Julia and Casey Cullen, lifeguards on the Ocean City Beach Patrol, love the race.
“It’s a hard race, but it’s a fun race. I knew my sister and I would be pretty close,” Julia said. “We have different strengths in this race. I was trying to be ahead of her on the run, but I was also worried about her because she has bad knees. We were with each other on the paddle, which was fun, and then she got ahead of me on the swim.”
“My body’s burning a little bit from the jellyfish, but I just was focusing on the race, so I wasn’t really noticing the jellyfish as I was swimming,” Casey added. “I was just trying to go as fast as I could.”
Moorby said the jellyfish invasion was unusual, something that hadn’t happened in the previous 17 Women’s Lifeguard Challenges and the CMPBP wasn’t sure what caused it.
“We believe the females who choose to train and compete in this race are the best lifesavers on the East Coast. No matter the currents or conditions, they rise to the occasion and accept the challenge,” Moorby said. “This race started 18 years ago as one of the only all-women’s races and we have continued to make sure that this is an opportunity to showcase and honor these fearless females. Completing the race, no matter first or 55th, is an amazing feat in itself.”
“The Point Challenge competitors are a very special community of guards bonded through this unique race and continue to inspire other guards, beach patrols and local spectators and children,” she said.
Stone Harbor Beach Patrol lifeguards Kiera Liesinger and Reese Hetzer finished sixth and 12th, respectively, helping the team to third place overall.
2026 Cape May Point
Women’s Challenge
Making the individual top 10 were Slavinski, first, with a time of 25:55; Zgorski, second, 26:04; Emig, third, 27:54; Wainwright, fourth, 27:58; O’Keefe, fifth, 28:00; Liesinger, sixth, 28:07; Maggie DeFonzo, Island Beach, seventh, 28:30; Kyle Fry, Sea Isle City, eighth, 28:35; Lauren Crouthamel, Wildwood Crest, ninth, 29:11; Gabby Deeley, Wildwood, 10th, 29:14; Erin Smith, Cape May, 11th, 29:27; Hetzer, 12th, 29:29; Casey Cullen, Ocean City, 13th, 29:45; Hoffman, 14th, 30:45; Julia Cullen, Ocean City, 15th, 30:57; Claudia Booth, Ocean City, 16th, 30:59; Megan Winterbottom, Brigantine, 17th, 31:08; Maddie Priest, Wildwood Crest, 18th, 31:33; Alex Back, Cape May, 19th, 31:42; Chloe Care, Ocean City, 20th, 31:41; Ryann Lowry, Ventnor, 21st, 31:55; Jillian Murphy, Sea Isle, 22nd, 32:05; Emma Klina, Island Beach, 23rd, 32:09; Brianna McFerran, North wildwood, 24th, 32:10; Alex Gliwa, Wildwood, 25th, 32:14; Cassandra Ashworth, Cape May Point, 26th, 32:17; Fauve Haney, Brigantine, 27th, 32:21; Lauren Sweet, Wildwood Crest, 28th, 32:26; Alyssa Sittineri, Stone Harbor, 29th, 32:37; Gabrielle Upright, Avalon, 30th, 32:39; Kailey Grimley, Upper Township, 31st, 32:48; Ainsley Frederick, Wildwood Crest, 32nd, 32:55; Olivia Orton, Stone Harbor, 33rd, 33:05; Sophia Gravelli, Sea Bright, 34th, 33:15; Brynn Donohue, Wildwood, 35th, 33:26; Colette Ungvary, Cape May, 36th, 33:52; Marla Groetsch, Cape May, 37th, 33:54; Olivia Kulakowski, Ventnor, 38th, 33:58; Fiona Keenan, Sea Isle, 39th, 34:00; Lani Ford, Longport, 40th, 34:22; Lorna Connell, Upper Township, 41st, 34:25; Maddie Broderick, Wildwood, 42nd, 34:26; Katie Scanlon, Avalon, 43rd, 34:27; Sophia Bostwick, North Wildwood, 44th, 34:48; Lindsay Robins, Upper Township, 45th, 34:49; Amy Melle, North Wildwood, 46th, 35:31; Krista Kenney, Sea Bright, 47th, 35:55; Julia Grlica, Avalon, 48th, 36:03; Gracie Preslar, Island Beach, 49th, 36:09; Abigail McFillin, 50th, North Wildwood, 36:44; Kat Wilkins, Island Beach, 51st, 37:28; Mackenna Finnegan, Avalon, 52nd, 37:46; Jennifer Allison, Cape May Point, 53rd, 39:00; Molly Lind, Longport, 54th, 40:08.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Cape May Star and Wave and Ocean City Sentinel staff
