Haymaker Hammerheads claim 5th straight title at Monroeville Invitational
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Temperatures already were making their way through the mid 70s as the first morning race went off at the annual Monroeville Invitational swim meet July 16 at Garden City Swim Club.
More than 200 swimmers ages 5 to 18 from four area clubs — Haymaker, Gateway Heights, Park and Garden City — gathered to compete in 32 events in what has become an annual summer tradition.
The 52nd edition, back for its second year after the covid pandemic wiped out the event in 2020, dodged rain showers throughout the five hours of competition.
When the water settled, the Haymaker Hammerheads stood tall with the first-place trophy for the fifth year in a row and sixth in seven years.
“It’s just always a great day to be here at Garden City for what is always a special event,” state Rep. Brandon Markosek said.
“There are a lot of kids who are getting the chance to have a great time with their families and show their skills in the water. It was a great day even though there were the potential for storms. It always is nice to see so many people from all over the area come together for an event with such rich history. This is my fourth time coming here, and I look forward to it every time.”
Markosek and Monroeville Mayor Nicholas Gresock presented the team trophies to the four teams after the final event.
Haymaker again ran away with the team title, scoring 348 points on the strength of 21 first-place finishes.
“We had high expectations for Haymaker coming in,” said Luke Babik, a Penn-Trafford (2019) and Penn State (2022) graduate and one of three Haymaker coaches along with Hannah Muro and Makayla Harris.
“We had a couple of close meets during the dual-meet season, so we were hoping to just swim our best all at one meet. That happened, and it was really exciting. Just to have all that competition in Monroeville, which is really strong, really brought out the best in our swimmers. I think it brought out the best in everyone, overall.”
Babik said that while the traditional plunge in the pool by the coaches didn’t happen after the win, they hope to jump in after the division championships July 30. That would mean another title for Haymaker.
“It again was a great feeling to gather, because even last season when the meet returned, it wasn’t among a normal schedule as we didn’t have the (season-ending) championships. To have the full docket of the special meets, including the Monroeville Invite, it is something to really get excited about.”
Park, which claimed two first places, was second in the team standings with 206 points.
Garden City won three events and was third (183 points), and Gateway Heights, winner of four events, was fourth (171 points).
The Monroeville Invitational again featured both preliminary and finals heats for individual events, a break from the format of years past. Meet officials said with the field reduced to the current lot of four teams, preliminaries give more kids from each team a chance to swim.
Relays remained one heat of timed finals.
Points were awarded for up to fourth place in the relays and fifth for the individual finals.
In addition to the competition, a group of 15 recent graduates from Gateway, Penn-Trafford, Penn Hills, Serra Catholic and The Kiski School were recognized for their contributions.
Celebrated were, from Gateway Heights: Summer Raymer, Chris Kendall and Will Roper; from Haymaker: Adam Almoukamal, Aiden Colberg, Jonathan Coulter, Andrew Holmes, Gabriel Sha, Ashley Broadwater and Hannah Kessler; and from Park: Ryan Bozicevic, Andy Fisher, Will Kromka, Anna Reynolds and Kristen Sipple.
Meet officials have already begun planning discussions for the next Monroeville Invitational, set for July 2023.
Three of the four Monroeville teams concluded divisional meets last Thursday (July 21) with Haymaker facing Edgewood, Park taking on Rosedale and Gateway Heights hosting White Oak.
Garden City had a bye.
The Eastern Swim Association Division I and Division II meets, canceled last year in the midst of the ongoing covid pandemic, return July 30 to Forest Hills and White Oak pools.
Forest Hills will host Division I teams Gateway Heights, Haymaker and Park along with Murrysville.
White Oak will be the Division II setting with Blackridge, Edgewood, Garden City, Meadowink and Rosedale.
Murrysville is the defending Division I champ from 2019. There will be a new Division II champion as Park won the 2019 Division II title.