Warriors win girls swim league championship

Not only did Fallbrook High School win the Valley League girls swim championship May 9, but Taylor Dowden broke a 16-year-old school record and two other individuals won league championships.

Fallbrook hosted the Valley League meet which consisted of swim preliminaries May 7, the diving competition May 8, and the swim finals May 9. The final league standings are based on a combination of dual meet records and positions at the league meet; Fallbrook was first in the dual meet standings and also took first place at the league meet.

"I think the girls really responded well at the finals," said Fallbrook coach Sean Redmond. "They came back strong and swam faster and did very well."

Fallbrook concluded dual meet competition May 1 with a 128-42 home victory over Ramona. The Warriors won all 11 events, swept the top three scoring positions in four of the eight individual events, took the top two positions in three of the other four individual events, and had both relay quartets finish ahead of the faster Ramona relay squad in two of the three relay races.

The win gave the Warriors a 5-0 record in Valley League dual meets while Ramona's league dual meet record was finalized at 3-2. Classical Academy was second in the dual meet standings with a loss to Fallbrook being the only blemish on the Caimans' 4-1 record.

The Fallbrook High School pool had not hosted the league meet in more than 35 years. Because Fallbrook's pool only has six lanes, the championship and consolation finals took the top 18 swimmers from the preliminary heats rather than the fastest 16 swimmers. "A little bit different, but it was nice because it allowed more swimmers a second opportunity to swim," Redmond said.

Those 18 positions were all scored during the league finals. All of Fallbrook's preliminary entrants qualified for the finals, although two girls were disqualified in the finals for false starts and the Warriors only had three 500-yard freestyle swimmers rather than the four they were allowed.

Escondido Charter High School is in the Valley League for aquatics, which meant that three-time defending CIF champion Taylor Pamplin was in the diving portion of the league meet. Pamplin accumulated 293.70 points to win the league championship. Mission Vista is in the Valley League for other sports but does not have aquatics. Mission Vista does, however, have diver Shelby Steiger, who was allowed to compete in the league diving meet and placed second. Fallbrook senior Jessica Fagrell was third with 178.85 points.

A high school swim meet begins with the 200-yard medley relay race. In the finals, the Fallbrook group of Ariana Young, Jazmin Patterson, Jordann Heimback, and Madalyn Johnson placed second with a time of 1:57.43 while Fallbrook's "B" team of Caitlyn Batty, Ashley Romo, Natalie Travers, and Mackenzie Montgomery placed ninth at 2:23.74.

Fallbrook then took the top two positions in the 200-yard freestyle. Young won the race in 2:01.27 to earn league champion status in that event. Heimback posted the second-place time of 2:04.99. In the first consolation race, Kayleen Fitzmaurice took ninth place with a 2:23.92 performance and Lauryn Scrape finished 11th at 2:27.05.

Dowden then won the first of her two individual league championships by completing the 200-yard individual medley in 2:18.29. Young was fifth with a time of 2:29.24. Sarah Draves had a time of 2:32.89 in the championship final, which gave her sixth place even though there were faster times in the first consolation final including the 2:30.99 which gave Patterson second place in that race and eighth place overall.

A disqualification for a false start limited the Warriors to three scoring positions in the 50-yard freestyle. Emma Thomas garnered third-place points for her 25.05-second swim, Claudia Oppermann placed fifth with a performance of 27.09 seconds, and Emily Larson earned eighth place for her time of 27.78 seconds.

The other disqualification was in the 100-yard butterfly. Emma Thomas placed second with a time of 58.32 seconds; Batty took sixth place 1:12.57 after the race began; and Larson obtained 12th-place points for her 1:12.36 performance.

All four of Fallbrook's 100-yard freestyle swimmers qualified for the championship finals. "This was big points for us because we were actually behind after the 100 fly," Redmond said. "The last half of the meet was the difference for us."

Classical Academy had the points lead following the butterfly race. "We knew it was going to be a tough battle with them," Redmond said.

Amelia Thomas was second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 55.15 seconds. Heimback finished in 57.22 seconds for third place. Johnson had a time of 58.22 seconds which gave her fourth. Oppermann placed sixth at 1:00.01.

Draves was the Warriors' only swimmer in the 500-yard freestyle championship final. Her time of 5:58.46 placed second and was also the first CIF meet consideration time of the year for her. Sierra Peterson won the first consolation final in 6:20.47 for seventh place. Jillian Edwards placed 14th with a time of 7:09.38.

Fallbrook took first-place points in the final four events. The winning 200-yard freestyle relay team of Dowden, Heimback, Amelia Thomas, and Emma Thomas took 1:43.75. The "B" team of Johnson, Oppermann, Larson, and Draves needed 1:53.17 to win the first consolation race and place seventh.

Young's second individual league championship was in the 100-yard backstroke; she finished in 1:02.79. Batty completed her laps in 1:08.45 for third place; Fitzmaurice was the fifth-place finisher 1:12.13 after the starter's gun was fired; and Travers raced for 1:19.87 to capture 11th place.

When the season began, six girls school records had been set in the 20th century. When the league final ended only four of those remained as the fastest in school history. When the swim season opened March 5 at home against El Camino, Young, Dowden, Emma Thomas, and Amelia Thomas completed the 200-yard medley relay in 1:55.74 to break the team record set in 1999. One of the three other school records set in 1999 was the 1:10.58 time Lauren Codington had in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Dowden relegated Codington's record to second place on the all-time school list when Dowden won the league finals race in 1:10.54. "It was exciting," Redmond said.

"It was a goal from the beginning of the season and finally just came together," Redmond said of Dowden setting the school record. "She just had a great race."

Winning the race was more important than the school record, but the need to beat out her competitor assisted Dowden in achieving the new team standard. "For the first 75 yards she was really pushed by the girl next to her," Redmond said. "She just had a great last 25."

Two other Warriors were in that championship race. Patterson took third place with a time of 1:15.65. Korin Prefontaine finished sixth and completed the race in 1:20.51. Montgomery placed 13th and took 1:29.83.

The meet concluded with the 400-yard freestyle relay. Dowden, Young, Amelia Thomas, and Emma Thomas had the winning time of 3:43.69. The seventh-place team of Peterson, Patterson, Batty, and Oppermann finished in 4:11.13.

The swimming league championship was the first for Fallbrook's girls since 2011, when the Warriors were in the Avocado East League. "You never expect it. You want it," Redmond said of the league championship. "You never know what the other teams are going to do."

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