Youth leads the way to titles in 2025 Beach To Beach Power Swim on St. John

Daily News Staff | Virgin Islands Daily News

Youth again provided an edge for the winning swimmers Sunday morning during the 2025 Joe Kessler’s Beach To Beach Power Swim on St. John.

Six of the 12 winners among the three races in the 22nd annual Beach To Beach Power Swim were ages 20 and under, and most of those swimmers were part of the U.S. Virgin Islands National Team that took part in last month’s CARIFTA Aquatics Championships in Trinidad and the 2025 PanAm Aquatics Championships last week in Colombia.

Leading the way in the long course race’s unassisted division was St. Croix’s Teague Gleason, who took overall honors in the closest finish of all three races.

The 15-year-old Gleason won the race — 3½ miles from the start at Maho Beach to the finish at Hawksnest Beach — in 1 hour, 11 minutes and 17 seconds, beating out Christian Vanderkaay, 43, of Grand Rapids, Mich., by just over a minute (1:12:16). Joe Linford, 47, of Layton, Utah, was a close third in 1:12:26.

Gleason became the second member of his family to win a Beach To Beach Power Swim title. His older brother, Kaeden Gleason, won last year’s long course unassisted title at age 16, setting the event record of 1:09:26 in the process. Teague Gleason, then 14, finished second in that race by just over 10 minutes (1:19:20).

Meanwhile, 20-year-old Sabina Csak of Old Greenwich, Conn., was the top female finisher in the long course unassisted division, finishing in 1:23:24. Zena Courtney, 65, of Cocoa Beach, Fla., was second among the female finishers in 1:27:29, with Josie Cuda, 30, of Philadelphia, Pa., third in 1:25:15.

Other division winners and top finishers in the 22nd Beach To Beach Power Swim were:

• In the long course assisted divisions, St. Thomas’ Brade Flowers, 43, took overall honors in 1:22:33, beating 19-year-old Fairley Maltby of St. Thomas by nearly 7½ minutes. Maltby was the top female finisher, coming across the line in 1:30:02, with St. John’s Sarah Matthews, 28, third overall in 1:30:49.

Keith Barrow, 51, of Pike Road, Ala., was the second male finisher and fourth overall in 1:33:23, with St. Thomas’ Christine Sheehan, 52, the third female and fifth overall in 1:34:08.

• In the intermediate course unassisted divisions, a pair of teenagers took top honors. St. Thomas’ Alessandra “Sasha” Poe took both overall and top female honors, finishing the 2¼-mile race from Maho Beach to Trunk Beach in 46 minutes, 14 seconds. St. Croix’s Kalonji Von Schilling-Royer was the top male finisher and second overall in 49:41.

Katie Papa, 31, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was second among the female finishers and third overall in 51:42, with Benjamin Hinds, 57, of Bay Head, N.J., second among the men and fourth overall in 52:03. Annalisa Nichols, 17, of Silver Spring, Md., was third among the females and fifth overall in 53:41.

• In the intermediate course assisted divisions, Chloe Farnham, 25, of Atlanta took both overall and top female finisher honors, completing the race in 50:23, beating Nancy Wright, 65, of Jupiter, Fla., for second female and overall in 51:48.

St. Thomas’ Raymond Vittum, 29, was the top male finisher, taking third overall in 54:29, followed by St. John’s Sam Krus, 37, in 56:40, and St. Croix’s Jan Tawakol, 53, in 58:02.

• In the short course unassisted divisions, St. Thomas’ Reagan Uszenski, 13 — who earned a total of 12 medals (six golds, five silver and a bronze) between the CARIFTA and PanAm meets — took both overall and top female honors Sunday, completing the one-mile race from Maho Beach to Cinnamon Beach in 20:57.

Kevin Ouderkirk, 54, of Missouri City, Texas, was the top male finisher and second overall in 24:08, edging out John Flowers, 53, of Hingham, Mass., by nine seconds (24:17). Brennan Kelly, 45, of Dallas, Texas, was fourth overall in 25:10.

Maryann Najdzinowicz, 49, of Point Pleasant, N.J., was second among the female swimmers in 29:01, edging out Carmen Tullius, 59, of Port Orange, Fla., by five seconds (29:06).

• In the short course assisted divisions, St. John’s Robert Tullios, 30, took top honors in 24:41, with Kimberly Frankhouser, 64, of Lancaster, Pa., the top female finisher and second overall in 27:29.

Pete Jobson, 70, of Fort Collins, Colo., was third overall, finishing just a second behind Frankhouser (27:30). Another close finish came from the fourth- and fifth-place finishers (and second and third among the female swimmers) when Theresa Malone Clode, 66, of Littleton, Colo., beat Christiane Fleurant, 58, of Norfolk, Va., by a second (28:37-28:38).

• In the long course relay unassisted division, Team UVI Research — comprised of Rick Nemeth, Drake Nemeth and Lindsey Dade — won in 2:14:31, beating out Team Total BS — Tyler Smith, Marilyn Brandt and William Smith — by nearly seven minutes (2:21:29).