Girls swim first in 10 of 11 events in season-opening win

Fallbrook High School's girls swim team opened its season March 5 with a 99-69 home victory against El Camino.

The Warriors took first place in 10 of the 11 events. "We had some pretty good swims and some good unexpected surprises, so that made things really pleasant and fun," said Fallbrook coach Sean Redmond.

Schools do not qualify for the CIF meet as a team; qualifying is by individual or relay team achievements and the CIF meet points reflect individual or relay quartet finishes. The realignment of Fallbrook from the Avocado West League to the Valley League means that Fallbrook and El Camino are no longer league opponents, so the meet will have no league championship implications.

The pre-league meets, however, give coaches an opportunity to assess their swimmers, and times or diving scores at a non-league meet can be used to qualify for the CIF meet. The meet against El Camino gave Fallbrook seven automatic qualifying times and seven consideration times or diving scores.

In a dual meet, the diving is scored only if both teams have divers, but if only one team has a diver she may still dive for CIF qualifying purposes. Jessica Fagrell scored 183.30 points on her six dives, which is a consideration score for the CIF meet.

The Warriors won all three relay races with automatic qualifying times. Ariana Young, Taylor Dowden, Emma Thomas, and Amelia Thomas completed the 200-yard medley relay in 1:55.74. Caitlyn Batty, Madalyn Johnson, Amelia Thomas, and Jordann Heimback took 1:48.86 in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Heimback, Young, Emma Thomas, and Dowden had a time of 3:53.53 in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

Dowden won two events while posting automatic times in both; she swam the 200-yard individual medley in 2:19.98 and the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:11.98. Emma Thomas had an automatic time of 1:00.92 to win the 100-yard butterfly. Young won the 100-yard backstroke with an automatic time of 1:01.54.

In two races, Fallbrook swimmers took first and second place with each posting a consideration time. Amelia Thomas had a time of 2:05.21 in the 200-yard freestyle with Heimback finishing in 2:05.49. Emma Thomas swam the 50-yard freestyle in 25.73 seconds while Young took 25.93 seconds.

Heimback won the 500-yard freestyle with a consideration time of 5:38.32. El Camino's only first-place finish was in the 100-yard freestyle, where Amelia Thomas took second place with a consideration time of 57.32 seconds.

The Warriors return to competition tomorrow with a home meet against San Marcos.