Margate Wins South Jersey Lifeguard Championship

With a first place and second place in the two rowing events, the Margate Beach Patrol recaptured the South Jersey Lifeguard Championship from Ocean City on Sunday night on the beach at 34th Street.

Ocean City earned the right to host the "Jerseys" by winning last summer in Margate, the 2010 champion.

Several hundred people lined the beach between 32nd and 34th streets on Aug. 12 to watch 15 beach patrols compete in a 1.5-mile doubles row, a three-quarter-mile swim and a quarter-mile singles row.

Three Absecon Island patrols took the top three spots in doubles: Ventnor, Margate and Longport. A first-place finish by Ventnor's David Funk and Mike Tripician broke a tie in the overall standings and gave the patrol second place over Ocean City.

Ocean City's Dylan Kosten and Matt Garbutt finished in fourth place.

Ocean City's top swimmer, Graham Parker, was a last-minute scratch with a sinus infection, and Erin Curry filled in, capturing seventh place in the male-dominated competition. Curry had swept all the women's competitions this summer.

North Wildwood's Sean Regan won the swim.

Dylan Kosten returned from the doubles row to compete for Ocean City in the singles and finished second, but Margate's Chuck Gowdy sealed the overall title with a victory.

Team Point Standings

1. Margate: 11
2. Ventnor: 6 (wins tiebreaker with better finish in doubles row)
3. Ocean City: 6
4. North Wildwood: 5
5. Longport: 4

Doubles Row

1. Ventnor: David Funk and Mike Tripician
2. Margate: Chris Graves and Bob Bechtel
3. Longport: Sean Duffey and Mike McGrath
4. Ocean City: Dylan Kosten and Matt Garbutt
5. Sea Isle City

Swim

1. North Wildwood: Sean Regan
2. Stone Harbor: Sean McCall
3. Sea Isle City: Blake Trabuchi-Downey
4. Margate: Patrick Flynn
5. Longport: Bobby Ballance

Singles Row

1. Margate: Chuck Gowdy
2. Ocean City: Dylan Kosten
3. Atlantic City: Joseph Welsh
4. Upper Township
5. Ventnor