Capitola Beach Lifeguard Association’s Junior Guards enjoyed their time at the 2025 California Surf Lifesaving Junior Lifeguard Championship — known in the community simply as “Regionals” — placing in many events and being part of a strong showing from Santa Cruz County as a whole.
Regionals is invite-only, so participants train hard and compete in local competitions hoping to be chosen by their instructors for the event.
“These junior guards push themselves everyday and their athleticism and grit is so inspiring,” gushed Midori Tetreault, one of the board members of Team Tola, a volunteer parent group that supports Capitola Junior Guards. “Being chosen to represent Capitola Jr. Guards at Regionals is an honor and a sign of recognition of hard work throughout the session. All the kids and young adults that competed at Regionals did Capitola Jr. Guards proud!”
Top performers for Capitola in u19 boys include Aiden Boles, who won the Beach Flags race and placed 2nd in Beach Sprint; Jedidiah Del Favero, who won Beach Sprint; and Cole Davilla, who joined Santa Cruz’ Aiden Miele, Drake Harper and Nico Van der Meer to win the Rescue Race Team Event. On the women’s side, Mia Barton finished top five in five races: taking 5th in the distance run; 3rd in Beach Sprint, Beach Flags and Rescue Race Team with Haven Halter, Marria Talavera and Stella Cottini; and 2nd in Surf Swim Team with Talavera and Maja Erhardt. Cottini also finished 5th in Beach Sprint and Board Rescue Team with Erhardt; and 4th in Distance Run and Beach Flags.
In the A division (ages 14-15), Bodhi Grossman had the best finish for the boys at 2nd in the Distance Run. In Surf Team, Abel Guevara, Syrus Miller and Leo Swisher combined to take 3rd (based on points) and Guevara took 5th in the Run-Swim-Run event. The girls’ Run Relay team of Coral Reeves, Eva Pogrowski, Siena Merril and Zoey Cash took 1st. Cash also took 4th in Distance Run and joined Haven Halter and Livija Erhardt for 5th in the Paddle Relay. Davilla also finished 2nd in the Distance Run and Merril placed 3rd in Beach Flags.
Division B (12-13) saw a win by Hazel Dixon in the Board Race, and by the girls Run Relay Team, featuring Addie Hardy, Lucia Wright, Marley Dahlen and Vivan Chomentowski. Dixon also joined Josie Lacenere and Vivian Chomentowski for 2nd in the Paddle Board Relay and took 3rd in the Ironguard race. Wright placed 5th in Beach Flags, Tillie Rudolph took 3rd in Distance Run, and Lacernere was joined by Lily Gills and Rebecca Files on the Surf Team for a 5th-place finish. The boys were led by Zander Brown, who won the Board Race, finished second in the Run Relay with Hudson Fry, Ryder Larson and Wilder Grossman, and took third in the Paddle Board Relay with Grossman and Izayah Menard.
The youngest group (C Division, 9-11) saw Kaiea Miller win both Ironguard and Run-Swim-Run for the boys. The boys also won the Paddle Board Relay, with Brady Dunn, Luke Richards and Nash Greiner. Richards and Tony Gills took 2nd and 4th in Beach Flags, respectively, while Dunn, Richards, Greiner and Rio Walker placed 4th in the Run Relay. On the girls side, Clair McLaughlin took 2nd in Distance Run, 5th in Beach Flags and teamed up with Daphne Hofman and Leila Beckett for 5th in the Run Relay. Cecilia Madsen, Eva Etcheverry and Jewel Greiner took 2nd in the Paddle Board Relay, and Meadow Moroney took 3rd in the Distance run.
“Their success isn’t just evident in the medals that they brought home,” Tetreault said. “It’s the comradery, bonds and memories as well that make this program and this event so special!”
Santa Cruz’s Junior Lifeguards also had a large presence, and Skylar Osborne — representing Rio Del Mar — placed fifth in the girls Division B Run-Swim-Run race.
•••
For all results, visit cslsa.org/2025-CSLSA-Surf-Lifesaving-Championships.html (check back later if results haven’t been updated).
For more on the Capitola Junior Lifeguards program, visit www.cityofcapitola.org/recreation/page/program-information.