By LESLEY GRAHAM
As the summer draws to a close, the women of the Ocean City Beach Patrol competed Thursday evening in the 25th annual Bill Howarth Women’s Lifeguard Invitational hosted by the Ventnor City Beach Patrol.
Ocean City took fourth place overall in the team standings after scoring points in three of the four events.
Host city Ventnor captured the team title. Margate and Longport finished second and third, respectively.
The final all-woman event of the season was formerly known as the Cape Atlantic Women’s Lifeguard Invitational.
It was renamed in honor of Bill Howarth, the longtime Ventnor Beach Patrol captain who passed away from cancer in 2016.
The seas were rough Thursday with a strong wind coming out of the south, forcing both rowers and swimmers alike to alter their course.
The first event of the evening was the doubles race, the longest of the four events, where the Ocean City crew of Stephanie Hauck and Jackalyn Pauling took fifth place.
Most crews started far south of their specified lane so that once in the boat, they could use the wind to guide them toward their flag.
The swim race was next and with some chop and sizable swell, the swimmers needed to constantly keep an eye on the flag to make sure they were staying the course. Andrea Teofanova swam for Ocean City, finishing strong with a run up the beach.
Stephanie Hauck was back up for her second event of the night in the singles row. She rowed a good course on the way out and caught a wave on the way in using her ocean expertise to finish in second.
The final event of the evening was the surf dash, a four-woman relay where the participants pass a rescue can from one leg to the next.
The Ocean City relay team of Erin Murphy, Jackalyn Pauling, Stephanie Hauck and Kat Soanes raced to a fourth place finish.
Ocean City Beach Patrol Capt. Brian Booth said he was proud of the work all of the women put in all summer to have a successful racing season.
“They worked hard, improved their skill and showed a lot of heart for the city in the out-of-town races,” Booth said post-race.
The men of the Ocean City Beach Patrol will compete Friday night in Longport at the 80th South Jersey Lifeguard Championships. Start time is 6:30 p.m.
