The Summer of Grisbaum: Avalon Falls Short in South Jerseys, but Swimmer Completes Season Sweep
The ABP celebrates the Dutch Hoffmans championship on the beach in Wildwood.
This year, it’s all about the lens.
Avalon Beach Patrol Chief Matt Wolf motivates team members with a “South Jerseys or Bust” philosophy each racing season.
There was no South Jerseys team title for Avalon this year, as Margate won the Super Bowl of lifeguard racing in the 15-patrol circuit.
But there’s no bust, either.
The patrol fashioned an individual champion, with Dolan Grisbaum becoming the first Avalon swimmer since 1989 to secure the South Jerseys title.
Accenting the milestone, Avalon’s last swimming champion, Chris Craft, was there to root him home in Longport. Their post-race photo linked Avalon’s last two South Jersey swim champions: Craft in 1989 and Grisbaum in 2022.
The team finished third in the South Jerseys, joining Margate as the only patrols to place in all three events. Erich Wolf, Gary Nagle and David Giulian produced two fifth-place finishes for Avalon in the respective singles and doubles rows and they were only a couple of boat lengths away from winning.
Avalon will have optimism to carry into next summer.
“It’s hard to be upset when you have a South Jerseys champion,” Matt Wolf says. “That’s why I don’t want to undersell what we did. I am very proud of my group.
“Normally you figure everything comes down to the South Jerseys, and we were close, very close to winning everything. We also did something for the first time in winning the Beschen-Callahan, the County Championships, the Kerr Memorials, the Dutch Hoffmans and the Ocean City Women’s Invitational.”
Becca Cubbler, the team’s top female performer, was instrumental helping Avalon seize those events.
Added Wolf: “I told our team, ‘Next season starts now.’”
As it does, some will bask in the afterglow of this year.
Chief among them is Grisbaum, who capped an undefeated season by prevailing in the South Jerseys. Wolf said this was the first time any Avalon swimmer had swept the slate of summer events.
Grisbaum was aware of the expectations notched by his earlier triumphs.
“The stakes were high for me in the South Jerseys,” he says. “Yes, I had won all the other races, but if you told me there was one I couldn’t lose, it was this one. It would have been disappointing to win all of those races and not the biggest one.
“I never like being the favorite,” adds Grisbaum, who was only a couple of seconds behind Joey Tepper on the circuit last year and, with Tepper no longer competing, was expected to romp. “When you are the favorite, you have a target on your back.
“That’s why what I just try to do is get out in front early, try to create as big a lead as possible and prevent someone from overtaking me later by catching a wave.”
Grisbaum was happy to see the calm conditions in Longport for the South Jerseys. It removed the wave variable, making the ocean event resemble a horse race on a fast track. Whoever grabs the lead early is likely to win.
That’s exactly what Grisbaum did. He was in front by the halfway mark and prevailed by a comfortable 30 seconds.
“When it got close to the end, I felt relieved more than anything,” he says. “I wanted to get this not only for myself, but for the patrol. It was also great that Chief Wolf told me that no matter what ever happened in the future, I would always be his first South Jerseys champion. That’s pretty special.”
After teammates hoisted him onto their shoulders, Grisbaum could relish the end of the day-long buildup. At Wolf’s request, Craft had addressed the team earlier in the day.
“Chris talked about how with all the things he had won in his life, he was most proud of was winning the South Jerseys as a part of this patrol,” Wolf says.
That includes Craft being a 12-time Big East swimming champ at Villanova, competing in the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials, being inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2004 and the school’s swimming Wall of Honor in 2002.
“It’s great when the alumni tell the patrol how their involvement with Avalon influenced the development the rest of their life, not only in the business world, but in athletics,” Wolf indicates. “Chris had a lot of great things to say.”
And he may have enjoyed the best time of all.
Craft got to revisit an era that marked his youth. He was 22 when winning the South Jerseys and later fashioned a career in advertising. Now 55, he owns Propulsion Media Labs in Malvern, Pa., which specializes in post-production services, voice-overs, etc.
But posing for a photo with Grisbaum, essentially passing the torch from one South Jersey champ to another, summoned fond memories.
“I am honored they brought me back and it was awesome to see many of my friends on the Avalon patrol, like Matt, Erich Wolf and Whitey [Craig Whitehead] still doing so well,” Craft says.
“I could not be happier for the Avalon Beach Patrol and for Dolan. My time as a guard here was incredibly special. To have had the blessing of winning the South Jersey championship and then be present for the next one was awesome. This was a total throwback for me.”
Craft recalls much of it like yesterday. It was a calm evening the night he won the South Jerseys in Ocean City, similar to Grisbaum’s situation.
There was drama for him, too, although somewhat different than the undefeated season Grisbaum had in his sights.
Craft, a Villanova swimmer, had a rivalry with Jeff Gershe of LaSalle, then swimming for a competing patrol. Gershe would one day be inducted into La Salle’s Hall of Athletes.
The battle of two future Big 5 Hall of Famers played out on the Atlantic Ocean.
“We had both graduated that May,” Craft recalls. “We both knew how important it was. We both wanted it, bad. All the training had come down to that race. And what decided it is that I caught a wave, he didn’t.”
While Craft got to relive another era this year, Shane McGrath can savor the best of more than two decades. That’s how long he’s been connected to the patrol, and he’s now a lieutenant.
McGrath also was Grisbaum’s coach on the Ocean City High School swim team.
He had seen Grisbaum’s relentless work ethic and parlayed that into a recruiting role, which is a coup. Grisbaum lives in Ocean City, but he joined the Avalon patrol last summer.
“Dolan would swim 10,000 yards at practice with the Greater Philadelphia Aquatic Club and then come here to do whatever it took for the high school team,” McGrath recalls.
“What I loved about him is that he does not want to lose, ever. He gets mad if he doesn’t win. I knew he was being pursued aggressively by other patrols, so it was decided not to push him. I just told him we’d love to see him come down here with us.’
Coincidentally, Avalon had just raised its pay for guards to $19 an hour, creating an inducement. Grisbaum was reunited with his high school coach.
But patrol work is just part of Grisbaum’s day. The Boston University sophomore reports to work at 9am, handles a stint on the chair, gets in an ocean swim, and then drives back to Ocean City … to swim two more hours indoors.
“His dedication is unbelievable,” McGrath says. “Once you have the reputation, you get a target on your back and you know what you have to do to maintain your top spot. Dolan will do whatever it takes.
“For me, watching him win South Jerseys is one of the biggest thrills I have ever had on the patrol.”
McGrath did get another one outside of the patrol. Ocean City High School won its first South Jersey swimming title since 1962.
From varied perspectives – whether that was a Grisbaum championship, the stability of veterans Erich Wolf and Nagle, the emergence of Cubbler and Guilian, even a link to its own past via Craft – the Avalon BP notched some highlights it will long remember this year.
Seen through that lens, this was a strong season.
