By chris kelly
Staff Writer
CHRIS KELLY Sea Bright lifeguard Mike Linde, 16, carries his paddle board across the finish line in the surf relay race at the Seven Presidents’ Lifeguard Tournament on Aug. 2.
There is definitely something to be said for home field advantage. In a seven-event competition, Mon-mouth County Park System’s Seven Presidents Park won its own lifeguard tournament, powered by five first-place finishes.
"We really wanted this," said team captain Mike Tomaino. "Everyone has been training hard. Even though we were competing on our own beach, everyone came out to win this tournament. It was great that we were able to do so well."
The third annual event featured teams from Allenhurst, Long Branch, Manasquan, Monmouth Beach, Ocean Grove, Sea Bright and Spring Lake.
Seven Presidents opened up the tournament with four straight victories, eventually finishing ahead of the field with 49 points.
The always dangerous team from Manasquan trailed in second place with 40, and Long Branch was in third with 37 points.
Regina Kamenel, Evan Carhart, Tomaino and Steve Truxal started things off for the soon-to-be champions, by winning the line rescue race.
In this event, Kamenel swan out to a preset buoy, touched the flag, then became the victim. Carhart then swam out as the "rescuer" to connect with Kamenel. Once Carhart reached the "victim," Tomaino and Truxal pulled in the two swimmers, then helped carry Kamenel over the finish line.
It was Ted Olsen and Harry Kegelman who traversed a watery course to win the kayak relay, while Drew Edson, Kegelman and Carhart won the paddle-run-swim relay.
Seven Presidents made it four wins in a row with a flawless effort in the row relay, which is similar to the kayak relay, where the competitors rowed out and around a preset buoy, and back to the beach. Instead of only two legs, as in the kayak relay, the row relay featured three two-person teams.
To make things a little more interesting, one team had to be 30 years of age or older, another all female, while the third team could have anyone on the team.
Miguel Mejia and John Venino were the 30/over team, with Michelle Kantor and Kelli Gibson, and Tomaino and Truxal making up the other two teams.
The race became a little close near the end, but Tomaino was able to cross the finish line ahead of Manasquan and Long Branch.
It was in the surf relay, a race featuring a run, two swims and a paddle, where the host team was finally knocked from the top of the podium.
Manasquan easily took the gold in this multi-discipline relay, with Long Branch edging its way into second. Seven Presidents finished third in the race.
After five events, the host team held an eight-point lead over Manasquan with 38 points, and 10 points over third place Spring Lake.
Despite a valiant sixth-place finish by Olsen in the men’s beach flag competition, Kantor’s first-place performance in the women’s division sealed the home team’s bid for the team title.
Spring Lake finished fourth with 35 points, Monmouth Beach fifth with 34, Ocean Grove sixth with 21, Allenhurst seventh with 18 and Sea Bright eighth with 15.