By chris kelly
Staff Writer
CHRIS KELLY Seven Presidents lifeguard Nancy Kegelman stretches to pull in teammate Drew Edson in the line rescue race at Monday night’s Ocean Grove Invitational Lifeguard Tournament.
Unlike many other lifeguard tournaments, you can’t stack the deck in the Ocean Grove invitational.
At the 34th annual Invitational Lifeguard Tournament, which was held on Monday, competitors are given a number before the contests start, and the contestants for the individual events are drawn out of a hat.
"This is a great tournament that is also a tremendous amount of fun," said Seven Presidents’ captain Mike Tomaino. "By pulling the participant out of a hat, it makes for a lot of fun, because you never know what event you get to do. You can’t stack the deck by only putting a lifeguard in their strong event."
Rounding out the top three finishers was Allenhurst, who tallied 12 points.
Even though Bradley Beach won the first event, the torpedo relay, Seven Presidents’ Miguel Mejia and Hugh Chambrovich were able to battle back to capture second.
The draw-of-the-hat caught up with the Long Branch team in the second event, the paddleboard relay.
Despite a valiant effort by veterans Kelli Gibson and Evan Carhart, Ocean Grove was able to steal the event, with Brittany Talarico and Rutledge Varley taking home the silver for Allenhurst.
Seven Presidents made a surge over the next two events, winning back-to-back to take the lead.
Michelle Kantor and Regina Kamenel powered their way over the finish line in the boat in/out race, despite a turning error, and Nancy Kegelman and Drew Edson successfully completed the line rescue race to edge Bradley Beach and Ocean Grove out of the lead with 16 points.
The two trailing teams were deadlocked with 15 points apiece, while Allenhurst sat in fourth with 12.
With only a point separating the teams at first and second place, Seven Presidents needed to finish at least second to take home the title.
Unfortunately, the draw-of-the-hat caught up with Seven Presidents in the final race — the medley relay.
In this collection of disciplines, a pair has to row, run, swim and paddle to complete the race.
Seven Presidents was seated in second place after the rowing and running portion of the relay, but was knocked back into third when Ocean Grove veteran Michelle Davidson hit the beach after her portion of the swim leg.
Davidson built up enough of a lead that Seven Presidents ended up finishing the race in third.
When the points were finally tallied, Bradley Beach was able to steal first place with a total of 20 points, while Seven Presidents’ and Ocean Grove shared second with 19.
Allenhurst, who only finished in the top three once and a second place in the paddleboard relay, rounded out the field with 12.