Area teen travels to Australia to compete in world championship triathlon
CRANBERRY TWP — Brandon Szuch has always been a good swimmer, and he runs track and cross country at North Catholic High School. He also took up bicycling.
Combining all three sports, he has the skills to go international.
Brandon, 16, competed in the 2025 World Triathlon Championship in October, which took place in Wollongong, Australia.
His first international competition ended with a result he said he was happy with, but he also said he could have done better. He finished with a time of just over an hour and four minutes, taking 39th place out of 77 in the age 16 to 19 division, and 80th of 1,260 overall.
“I could have done a few things better strategy-wise, gone a little bit harder in the swim maybe,” Brandon said. “I got pushed back a little further in the swim than I wanted to be. I had a fantastic bike, which I was really pleased with, which got me up pretty high placewise and my run was solid, so I don't have much to complain about there.”
Brandon regularly trains at the Rose E. Schneider Family YMCA in Cranberry Township, where he can run, swim and ride a stationary bicycle to prepare for triathlons and stay in shape. It comes in handy in the winter when it gets too cold to do any of those sports outdoors. He said the training regimen is a little odd to start, but it’s all about getting into a routine to improve each individual leg of the triathlon and the transitions between each mode of transportation.
“When you get into all three at once, it's definitely a little bit different because usually you're not practicing all three in a row,” Brandon said. “You go straight out of the pool right onto the bike … but then you have to practice that. Running off the bike is really difficult and by the point you get to the water you're really exhausted.”
Brandon said he has been training for triathlons for six years, after first competing in a children’s triathlon at North Park when he was 10 or 11 years old. It was there that he caught the attention of Joella Baker, who runs Get Fit Families out of Harmony.
Brandon said after already being interested in competing in triathlons, Baker helped train him to the point where he could do so.
“I've been under her training plan for several years now. It has definitely helped me develop as an athlete,” Brandon said. “That's the biggest part of the sport, I think, is just being consistent.”
He has been training with Baker for about six years.
Baker said it is a little easier to get people into triathlon training when they are young, because a lot of the sport is about endurance. The children’s races are shorter distances, so she can get them going at those lengths and gradually build them up to where they can sustain long periods of heavy exertion.
Like many sports, an athlete’s mindset can contribute a great deal to their overall performance.
“For most of the kids, going from bike to run is the hardest part, because their legs are tired and they already swam,” Baker said. “We do a lot of practicing transitions from bike to run to acclimate their body to how they are going to feel.”
Over the years, several people mentored by Baker have competed in triathlons, national and international. She said Brandon has a bright future ahead of him. She said he has improved a lot since she first started training him, and his biking is becoming one of his best categories, after him not being into it when he first started.
Additionally, she encourages those she trains to travel to other countries to compete, if only for the experience of being overseas.
“It's amazing. We always love having athletes go to (world championships) and have that experience and race against people from other countries,” Baker said. “I’m just super proud of Brandon. He has worked hard over the years.”
The trip to Australia itself was a good experience for Brandon, who said the most difficult part of the journey was adapting to the time difference of 13 hours between the U.S. and Wollongong. The plane ride there was pretty arduous, taking about 18 hours, including a layover flight in Dallas. He arrived in Sydney about a week before the triathlon and got to spend some time in Australia before the race.
Peg Szuch, Brandon’s grandmother, traveled with the teen athlete and said the preparation alone was enough to build some stress.
“Physically, just to get there with the equipment, you have to take a bike in a bike case, take a wet suit. You have to take your goggles, your helmet, your special clip-on shoes for the bike,” Szuch said.
She added she has always been impressed by her grandson’s athleticism, but seeing him compete in a triathlon in a different country took it to a whole new level.
“You are swimming in the ocean and these currents, much different than Moraine State Park,” Szuch said. “I give him credit, because it's a lot.”
Brandon said even though he got to check out the triathlon course early with other competitors, his nerves still hit him hard on race day. It wasn’t a new feeling to him and he said the nerves dissipate a little once he takes off from the starting line.
“You're going against some of the best athletes in the world, so it's hard to clear your mind,” Brandon said. “After you start, you don't notice it because you're so focused on what all is going on. It was the mental block, if anything. Just the nervousness in general, that was probably the biggest thing.”
The competition Oct. 17 was intense, but Brandon said he met up with some other U.S. competitors who he befriended through a shared passion for triathlons. He said his first international triathlon experience was good and he plans to compete in some more in the future.
As of now, though, the North Catholic student is taking a little reprieve after a long span of training.
“I hope to do some international cup races this summer in South America and Europe,” Brandon said. “Joella, she wants me to go to Senegal for the Youth Olympic Games next year.
“I’m taking a little time off now, because I have been training non-stop for six years.”
