Fallbrook High boys swim to wins in first two league meets

Home meets April 5 against Escondido Charter and April 7 against Valley Center opened Valley League competition for the Fallbrook High School boys swim team, and the Warriors won both meets.

Fallbrook's first meet of the 2016 league season was a 98-70 victory against Escondido Charter. “It was a little closer than it probably should have been,” said Fallbrook coach Bill Richardson.

In each of the eight individual events, each school can enter up to three swimmers. Six team points are given for the first-place finish; second place is worth five points; third place earns four points; fourth place adds two points, and the fifth-place swimmer obtains one team point.

Although a school can enter up to three quartets for each of the three relay races, only two of those relay teams from each school can be scored, with teams receiving eight points for first place, four points for second, and two points for third.

The White Tigers obtained first-place points in eight of the 11 events; Fallbrook and Escondido Charter tied for first in one race, and the Warriors had the fastest finish in two events. Richardson noted that the White Tigers have club swimmers who can win races but the Warriors have greater depth.

“We're a pretty good team,” Richardson said. “We have a good program that's basically built around our water polo team.”

Fallbrook's Jason Burkhard and Escondido Charter's Ryan Smith tied for first place in the 50-yard freestyle with times of 24.43 seconds, giving each team five points for the split. Fallbrook also obtained that race's third-place points courtesy of the 25.01-second time posted by C.J. Bridgeman.

The Warriors had an eight-point lead before increasing that margin by 10 with the top two finishes in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Jake McKinnon, Greg Jameson, Declan Harrison, and Toby Fast won the race in 1:38.97. David Moran, Spencer Mason, Bridgeman, and Spencer Wallace finished with a time of 1:44.17.

Fallbrook's lead increased from 18 to 28 points with a sweep of the 100-yard backstroke. Matthew Kuhn had a winning time of 1:02.08, Chase Norfolk completed his laps in 1:07.66, and Mason had a 1:07.92 performance.

The Warriors then finished second, third, and fourth in both the 100-yard breaststroke and the 400-yard freestyle relay.

“We did pretty well,” Richardson said.

If only one school in a dual meet has a diver, the diving is not scored but the diver himself is scored for CIF qualifying purposes. Although sophomore Joey Greenwood, who won last year's Valley League diving championship, posted a qualifying score for this year's CIF meet, the detection of a vertebrae fracture in his lower back eliminates him from further competition this season.

Greenwood is not prevented from helping to coach Fallbrook's divers and is remaining with the team in that capacity.

McKinnon posted a CIF meet consideration score of 171.80 points on six dives at the April 5 meet while Tiane Maestus recorded a score of 157.20 points.

First-place finishes in nine of the 11 contested events contributed to Fallbrook's 115-53 victory against Valley Center. “We had some good swims and we beat them by a pretty good margin,” Richardson said.

The event scored only for CIF qualifying purposes provided Maestus with an automatic qualifying mark of 192.90 points on six dives. “Tiane's done a great job,” said Richardson.

Maestus also competes in swim events for the Warriors. “He’s turning out to be quite a good swimmer, actually,” said Richardson.

McKinnon improved his consideration score to 173.85 points against Valley Center. Andrei Smith posted a consideration score of 156.05 points.

Fallbrook took both first and second in the 200-yard medley relay. Kuhn, Aria Firooz, Anthony Vazzana, and Caleb Smedley had a time of 1:55.16. Norfolk, Brice Sammons, John Litvac, and Moran finished in 2:02.06.

The Warriors also swept two individual races against the Jaguars. Fast won the 200-yard freestyle in 1:52.93, Harrison had a time of 1:56.64, and Kuhn finished in 1:59.50. Harrison had a winning time of 1:01.24 in the 100-yard backstroke, with Norfolk touching the wall in 1:06.52 and Smedley in 1:07.49.

Smedley, a freshman, won his first individual race April 7 when he completed the 200-yard individual medley in 2:20.47. “He's turning out to be one of our stronger swimmers, and it's been a pleasure to have him around,” Richardson said.

Firooz finished second in the individual medley at 2:26.60.

Fast won the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 58.98 seconds. Kuhn had the winning time of 5:24.55 in the 500-yard freestyle. Firooz took first in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:12.87. Wallace, Jameson, Smedley, and Fast won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:37.55. The winning 400-yard freestyle relay time of 3:41.04 was clocked by Fast, Vazzana, Kuhn, and Litvac.