OCEAN CITY — The women of the Ocean City Beach Patrol invited crews from up and down the coast of southern New Jersey to show them what it’s like to be the best.
The OCBP came from behind to win the 2025 Women’s Lifeguard Invitational on July 15, defeating Sea Girt Beach Patrol with 17 points to 14.
Ocean City took first place in the paddle relay and surf dash, along with second place in the run/swim relay and third place in the swim relay to claim this year’s title.
The Sea Isle City Beach Patrol was third with 8 points, the Upper Township Beach Patrol was fourth with 7 and the Wildwood Crest Beach Patrol was fifth with 6. Scoring was 5 points for first place, 4 for second, 3 for third, 2 for fourth and 1 for fifth place.
The event was held on the beach in front of the 58th Street headquarters this year, a change from its usual location at 12th Street or 34th Street. Deputy Chief Tony Mehalic said he believes it was the first time holding the event in the deep Southend.
“We always want to hold it up there where people on the boardwalk can see it and everything, but coming down here just opens it up and you can see the real beauty of Ocean City — the beautiful beaches and the dunes and everything,” Mehalic said, noting there is more space on the wider beaches.
There’s also more parking, which is vital when 14 beach patrols bring numerous vehicles including a trailer for a surfboat.
There was a sizable crowd of families and friends of the participating guards as well as dozens of folks who decided to stay on the beach as the spectacle unfolded before them.
Mehalic and Deputy Chief Holly Lesser ran the event like pros, explaining the rules before every event and keeping excellent timing.
Lifeguards had gone off-duty, but many of the beachgoers stayed through the event, watching as the top women guards from 14 patrols competed in the sprint doubles row, swim relay, paddle relay, run/swim and surf dash competitions.
Highlights for the OCBP include the sister duo of Mia and Brynn Gallagher winning the paddle relay and the surf dash team taking a very close final event to secure the big trophy.
Champion surfers, the Gallaghers likely had an advantage over their competitors from spending so much time in the water, and it showed as Brynn, 17, completed the opening leg of the box course first and then Mia, 19, held the lead.
“It was a short paddle in this one so you’ve got to get out of the gate strong and go all out,” Brynn said. “The gullies will get you but I had some strategies in mind. It was fun.”
She said it is terrific racing with her sister.
“We’re so competitive, we just push each other,” Brynn said.
“My sister got a really far lead. I was really tight with Diamond Beach Patrol and made that first buoy and after that I came all the way in after the second one, caught a little wave and sprinted to the finish,” Mia said.
The Gallaghers finished in 5:45, followed by Sea Girt’s Sydney VandeBoe and Ivy Slavinski in 5:54 and Diamond Beach Patrol’s Kelsey Cummings and Kennedy Campbell in 5:57.
The sprint doubles race was the first event, and neither Ocean City nor Sea Girt placed, which makes their top scores even more impressive as they collected points from only four races.
The Upper Township Beach Patrol duo of Lorna Connell and Kailey Grimley were first in 4:54, followed by Sea Isle City sisters Molly and Maura Quinn in 4:57 and the Ventnor City Beach Patrol’s Sam Keough and Charlotte Thomas in 5:01.
Competitors rowed out to a set point and raced back to the surf zone, where one had to jump out and run to their flag on the beach.
The UTBP got off to a great start.
“It was fun, pretty windy, and all the girls out there are really strong and it was hard to hold them off for a while,” Connell said.
The Upper Township and SICBP boats both got turned on a wave near the finish, colliding at one point, but both were able to get back on course before the field caught up.
“My only thought was to get unstuck, because if you’re stuck you’re not going anywhere,” Connell said. “I was just trying to row through it. I feel bad I was clanking their oars but I just thought I had to get out of it.”
“It was close. All the way through we were all really strong competitors,” Grimley added. “It was overall a really good race.”
The Longport Beach Patrol’s Jordyn Ricciotti and Alivia Wainwright, both products of the Mainland Regional High School swim team, won the swim relay in 8:12. Sea Girt’s Maddie Brennan and Emily Sudol were second in 8:17 and Ocean City’s Summer DeWitt and Rhylee Cornell were third in 8:34.
The tide was on the ebb and there is a sandbar off the beach, making for more of a surf dash than a swim as the athletes had to high-step through the early and late stages.
The LPBP’s Wainwright was fourth in the first leg. Diamond Beach’s Kelsey Cummings, a nationally ranked swimmer in the United States Lifesaving Association, stayed on her feet to take an early lead and held it, but Ricciotti was able to make up the deficit on the second leg.
“We weren’t expecting this shallow sandbar,” Wainwright said. “So that was a surprising obstacle that we had to work through during warmups.”
“It was a great race. A lot of surf dash because it was very low tide today — surf dash, hit a gully and swim a little bit, surf dash some more, swim again — so it really came down to the mid-distance training that we do a lot of in the pool,” DeWitt said.
“It’s all about being aggressive out in the water; that definitely will get you ahead,” Cornell said.
Sea Girt leveled the score with the OCBP at 8 apiece in the paddle relay and jumped ahead to 13-12 in the run/swim relay when Slavinski and Sudol won in 6:11. The OCBP’s Chloe Care and Abby Hays were second in 6:13 and Sea Isle’s Molly O’Neill and Mary Kate Leonard were third in 6:15.
Care, a former champion runner with Ocean City High School, took the lead for Ocean City in the beach run, tagging fellow Red Raider Hays for the swim.
“She booked it at the end and I was able to get out in front, which is so helpful. I didn’t have to fight anyone in the water and it was great,” Hays said.
The duo said they appreciated the home crowd.
“The energy is great,” Care said. “We’ve got a lot of support.”
Victory came down to the final event, the surf dash relay, in which four competitors run into the surf, touch a rope and run back to tag their partner.
Ocean City’s Claudia Booth, Haley Clayton, Grace Cullen and Peyton Rautzhan (3:29) narrowly defeated Wildwood Crest’s Emie Frederick, Sofia Jurusz, Maddie Priest and Lauren Sweet (3:31) to secure 5 points and the team title. The Wildwood Crest crew won the surf dash at the Cape May County Lifeguard Championships earlier this month.
Cullen was first to tag on the third leg, sending Rautzhan out into the surf ahead of her competitors.
“It was so fun to do it with the three other girls; I’m having the best time ever,” Rautzhan said.
North Wildwood Beach Patrol’s Abigail Melle, Brianna McFerran, Dorothy O’Brien and Scarlet Henry were third (3:36).
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Cape May Star and Wave
