Monmouth County of New Jersey became the 2023 United States Lifesaving Association national champion, holding off a strong challenge from Delaware’s Sussex County to win the Howard Lee Trophy on Saturday.
Monmouth County last won a national championship in 2017.
The powerhouse from LA County Surf Life Saving Assoc., which has won the overall competition 46 times, rounded out the podium with a third-place finish.
“The Virginia Beach Lifeguard Association was honored to host the best lifeguards in the entire country this week,” said Tom Gill, the VBLA’s president. “Congratulations on a job well done to all of our courageous lifeguards who put their lives on the line every single day to keep our beachgoers safe.”
Monmouth County benefited from a strong team performance that included 60.25 open points and a top-five men’s overall individual finish from Ryan Matthews, 50.375 points from Charlie Rennard, 44.5 from Amy White, 42 from Brendan Kipnis and Peyton Ouano and 40.5 from Mary Kate George.
Sussex County swept the men’s and women’s beach flags (Sophia Gulotti and CJ Fritchman), men’s and women’s 4×100 relay and the women’s 90-meter sprint (Gulotti).
The top individual performers included women’s overall points leader Casey Francis, from Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue, who won the American IronWoman and tallied top-five finishes in board rescue race, rescue race, surfboat race and run-swim-run. It was her third consecutive points title.
The men’s overall points winner was Thomas O’Neill from Riis Park, New York, who successfully defended the title he won last year in Hermosa Beach, California. O’Neill was impressive all week, winning the board rescue race and rescue race, finishing second in surf race, the Taplin race and Ironman, and third in run-swim-run.
LA County continued its excellence despite a reduced roster in 2023. Kelsey Cummings, who won the individual women’s title in Virginia Beach in 2019, finished in second place for the third year in a row. Holly Maine finished in fifth place, and Brian Murphy was the men’s individual runner-up.
The VBLA’s David Dierstein won the men’s age 45-49 2K Beach Run. His VBLA teammate Nancy Hodges was the 2K Beach Run runner-up in the age 65-69 category.
In the open women’s Landline Rescue, the VBLA team of Carson Yoder, Maddie Brooks, Samantha Tadder and Savannah Denis placed third.
