Gateway Heights takes trophy, hundreds of swimmers compete in Monroeville Invitational

The second Saturday in July usually brings hot weather for any outside activity.

That was the case July 13 as the sun and heat baked Garden City Pool, the site of an annual youth swimming tradition.

Despite the warm temperatures, more than 200 competitors from five area swim clubs gathered for individual and relay competition at the 54th Monroeville Invitational.

As expected, many of the races for those age 6 to 18 from the host Dolphins, Gateway Heights Gators, Haymaker Hammerheads, Park Sharks and newcomer Forest Hills Stingrays went down to the wire.

And for the second year in a row, the incumbent champion was not able to bring home the title.

Last year, Park ended a five-year win streak for Haymaker.

This time around, Gateway Heights used several first-place finishes along with its depth to rule the water with 328 team points. Park tallied 301 points, followed by Garden City (231), Forest Hills (197), and Haymaker (128).

“This was a fabulous meet for everyone on the team,” said Gateway Heights co-head coach Morgan Bush, who also is the head coach of the Penn Hills high school swim team.

“Our team has grown tremendously over the years. We have a very close-knit team where everyone has their individual goals and times, but they also understand that they are helping the team go after that win and that trophy. They all get up for this meet every year. It is special for them, and it’s special for all of the teams to come out here and be a part of a great thing for swimming in the area.”

A total of 1,100 points were up for grabs in 42 events – 22 relay, 20 individual. There again were both preliminary and final heats for individual freestyle events.

For the off-stroke events – butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke – teams were able to enter two swimmers ages 6 to 18, and it was scored in age groups of 8-and-under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-18.

More swimmers were able to swim for first-place finishes in those three boys and three girls events.

Relays remained one heat of timed finals.

Relay winners earned 14 points, and individual first-place finishers earned seven points.

The Gateway Heights swimmers and coaches, which included Gateway high school team head coach Glenn Raymer, were presented the first-place trophy by a pair of Monroeville dignataries: state Rep. Brandon Markosek and Ward 7 Councilman Dennis Biando.

Markosek said he was impressed with the competitive nature of the annual event mixed with the camaraderie between swimmers, coaches and others gathered to celebrate the sport at the youth level.

“It was a great summer day with a lot of families enjoying the weather and also the events,” Markosek said. “You could see the kids having fun with their friends, which was the most important part. It was just a great all-around day.”

In addition to the competition, a group of 12 recent high school graduates were recognized for their contributions.

Celebrated were Garden City’s Jake Watson Forest Hills’ Channing Brook, Charlotte Brake Hoffman, Francesco Porco, Mia Damico and Cayla Connolly and Gateway Heights’ Mallory Brown, McKenna Brown, Megan Caskey, Mark DiPalma, Colton Park and Robby Steiner.

Meet officials already have begun planning discussions for the next Monroeville Invitational, set for July 2025.

The busy summer of events for the hundreds of swimmers in the Eastern Swim Association concludes with the division championships Saturday, July 27.

Garden City and Park will join Murrysville and Meadowink at the Division I meet at Forest Hills, while White Oak will host the Division II championships with Gateway Heights, Haymaker, Blackridge, Edgewood, and Rosedale.