Double winner Granese leads ACBP to South Jersey lifeguard title; Avalon lifeguard wins swim race

Posted: August 15th 2026

Avalon’s Tim Hanway won the swim race at the South Jersey Lifeguard Championships Friday.

By DAVID WEINBERG

For CapeAtlanticLive.com 

AVALON – Balance carried the Atlantic City Beach Patrol to its biggest win in decades Friday night.

Two victories from rower Vince Granese and another solid effort from swimmer Charles Schreiner helped Atlantic City win the team title at the South Jersey Lifeguard Championships for the first time in 26 years at Avalon’s 35th Street Beach.

“This feels great,” said Granese, who won the singles row and teamed with Nick Guardara to earn first place in the doubles. “It means a lot.”

Atlantic City scored 13 points to edge two-time defending champion Avalon by two points. It gave the beach patrol its first South Jersey team title since it shared the honor with Margate in 2000. It marked its first outright team win since 1998.

Afterward, the patrol celebrated by holding the trophy aloft while echoing Mayor Marty Small’s favorite proclamation.

“Can you say, ‘Great Day?’” Small often says. “It’s another great day in Atlantic City.”

A large crowd stood at the water’s edge for the races, which is considered the biggest event on the South Jersey lifeguard racing calendar. Cheers erupted up and down the shore line while fans rooted for their favorite patrols.

Granese and Guidara, Upper Township’s Chase Brown and Ryan Manning, and Cape May’s Mike Fitzpatrick and Andrew Treffeisen led the charge for much of the doubles row before Granese and Guiadara surged ahead over the last 20 yards.

“We turned at the (halfway point) in second place behind Upper,” Guidara said. “I was watching them the whole time on the way in and I figured they were going to catch a wave at the end. I knew if we wanted to have a chance, we had to get cranking.”

Avalon’s Tim Hanway relied on homefield advantage to win the swim.

He was also locked in a tight race with Upper Township’s Logan Manning and Schreiner, who won back-to-back South Jersey crowns in 2023-24.

The 18-year-old caught a late wave to take the lead before standing and sprinting out of the ocean while fans and fellow Avalon lifeguards, including two-time South Jersey swim champion Dolan Grisbaum (2022, ’25) urged him on.

“I sit on this exact beach and swim this course every day, so I knew what to expect,” said Hanway, who is headed to Loyola University in Maryland later this month. “I haven’t won a race all summer, but I won the one that matters most. To win it and to win it here in Avalon is pretty flipping awesome.”

Atlantic City and Upper Township were tied for first place entering the singles row with eight points apiece, adding even more drama to the race.

Granese wasn’t concerned about that.

“I didn’t want to know anything about the standings or how many points we needed to win (the team) title,” he said. “This race was for me. All I wanted was to win a South Jersey singles race. That’s all I was focused on.”

He accomplished his goal during a controversy-filled race.

Another boat crossed the finish line ahead of Granese, but was eventually disqualified for improperly turning the flag at the halfway point.

Granese thus became Atlantic City’s first South Jersey champion in the singles row since Mike Alton in 1996 and was its first two-race winner since Charles Yates in 1938.

“You can be in the best shape of your life, but that doesn’t always matter in this race,” Granese said. “You’ve gotta hurt to win this race. And I was willing to do that.”