Teams tie in points with Cape May Beach Patrol a close third
BRIGANTINE — With cool temperatures, fairly calm seas and sunny skies that turned cloudy, the Ocean City Beach Patrol and Brigantine Beach Patrol both came out on top at the 2024 South Jersey Rescue Board Championship on Aug. 13.
The patrols each ended up with 18 points. Because there wasn’t a tie-breaker, the host Brigantine patrol decided both teams won.
Many competitions in the South Jersey Lifeguard Chiefs Association use the better finish in the doubles row as a tie-breaker, but the only surf boat in site stayed on the beach.
This championship is all about the rescue boards and featured five races, two for the women, two for the men and one relay with men and women.
The Cape May Beach Patrol wasn’t far off from the lead, finishing third with 16 points. Diamond Beach was fourth with 13 points and Wildwood finished with 5 points for fifth place. The top four patrols scored in each of the events.
Two of the races had the lifeguards on a mid-distance M-shaped course — one for men and one for women — and two of the races were long distance, having the guards paddle for at least a mile. The final event also took place on the mid-distance course with all patrols using three men and one woman in a relay, having all members navigate the course and then hand off the rescue board to the next athlete.
Brigantine was first in two of the events — the female distance race won by Grace Emig and the relay, which featured Emig, Jack Savell, Kyle Graybill and Sean O’Neill.
Kyle Graybill finished second in the mid-distance course, Kara Graybill was third in the women’s mid-distance and O’Neill finished fifth in the men’s long distance.
Ocean City guard Lexi Santer was first in the women’s mid-distance race and she teamed up with Andrew Shaw, Frank Christy and Chase Ritter to take second in the relay.
OCBP teammate Brynn Gallagher added a second-place finish in the women’s long-distance race and Shaw finished third in the men’s long-distance race, out-sprinting a competitor to the finish for that extra point that made a difference in the final score. Christy was fourth in the men’s mid-distance race.
Brigantine won the relay in 16 minutes, 1 second. Ocean City finished in 16:40, Cape May in 16:41, Diamond Beach in 17:15 and Avalon in 17:48.
Cape May’s Clay Stephens won the men’s mid-distance, Madi Bickford was second in the women’s mid-distance and Emma DeMario and Zeb Hinker each placed fourth in the distance races.
Diamond Beach’s Sean Wilkinson won the men’s long-distance race, teammate Kennedy Campbell was fourth in the mid-distance, Mandi Basantis fifth in the long-distance and Nick third in the men’s mid-distance. The team was fourth in the relay.
Wildwood’s Justin Soden was second in the men’s long-distance race and teammate Riley McDade was fifth in the women’s mid-distance race.
Other teams competing at the Rescue Board Championship were Atlantic City, Ventnor, Margate, Longport, Upper Township, North Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Stone Harbor and Cape May Point.
– STORY and PHOTOS by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
