United Water Polo girls' and boys' teams taking first at State. Photo: United Water Polo

KEARNS, Utah — The spring high school water polo season wrapped up for the Utah league on Saturday, May 18. United Water Polo, a partnership between Park City High School and Salt Lake City’s Skyline High School, took first place in the high school girls’ and boys’ divisions. Olympic and Kearns rounded out both podiums.

Tanya Bastick’s Park City High son Julian, a sophomore, has played on the squad since attending Ecker Hill Middle School, the venue where the team trains. Regarding his sister, Tanya told TownLift how proud she is of her daughter moving on from Park City to play water polo at Chapman University in California. She quipped that while she’s thankful for the opportunities United provided, it’ll be a welcome change to be able to watch water polo at an outdoor pool.

In this year’s state championship game, Park City High School junior Drew Horton was named MVP and led the boys’ team with seven goals. Drew was also named to the 18U Allstate team. That’s quite a feat for a junior, as coaches typically favor seniors for that honor.

Drew’s dad, Gary Horton, started Park City Water Polo 14 years ago. Last year, Drew was selected to represent the U.S. in Greece for 10 days in August for the Olympic Development Program (ODP) pipeline. “This had never happened to a Utah water polo player, let alone a player from a ski town like Park City,” Drew’s mom, Kristi Horton, told TownLift. Even this year’s Utah ODP pipeline does not have a boy or girl player chosen for the national level, so it was quite a milestone that Drew was selected last year.

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“Coming together with Skyline provided a higher level of practice, preparing our players to be more competitive with other clubs that have a history of combining in the spring club season,” Coach Gary Horton said.

United is dedicated to creating opportunities for growth through cross-club collaboration, out-of-state travel tournaments, and an unyielding culture of teamwork and learning. The coaches love the game and simply want to see it grow in Utah. They have a thriving cross-age mentorship program with youth assistant coaches and many opportunities for players to develop strong leadership skills. The club is open to players of all levels, from beginners to experienced athletes.