Swim teams finish with winning records

Girls swim finishes league dual meets with winning record

Fallbrook High School’s girls swim team closed out Avocado West League dual meet competition May 8 with a 99-71 home win over El Camino which gave the Warriors a final 3-2 record in league dual meets.

“It was a nice finish for the dual meet season but also great buildup into league and CIF,” said Fallbrook coach Sean Redmond.

Carlsbad High School will host today’s (May 15) league preliminaries and tomorrow’s league finals; the CIF meet will be held the next week at Granite Hills High School. A combination of dual meet records and team positions at the league meet will determine the final league standings.

A high school swim meet has 11 events. Fallbrook and El Camino had 47 points apiece after the sixth race. “It was close for a while,” Redmond said.

Each school can enter up to three swimmers in each individual race and up to two quartets in each relay race. Position points are given for the top five individual race finishes and for the top three relay positions.

El Camino began the meet with first-place finishes in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard individual freestyle race. Kierstin Dowden completed the 200-yard individual medley in 2:24.47 to give Fallbrook the six first-place points; the Wildcats had the second and third finishers while Fallbrook took three additional points for fourth and fifth.

The Warriors took their first points lead of the afternoon by sweeping the top three positions in the 50-yard freestyle. Emma Thomas finished in 25.23 seconds, Amilia Thomas had a time of 25.84 seconds, and Madalyn Johnson completed the two laps in 26.30 seconds.

“It was short-lived because in the 100 fly they went 1-3-4 on us,” Redmond said of the points lead after the 50-yard freestyle.

The 100-yard butterfly race was won by El Camino’s Jordan Payne, who had a time of 59.08 seconds. Payne touched out Emma Thomas, who had a 59.10-second performance. El Camino’s position points in that event tied the score. The score remained tied after the 100-yard freestyle in which the Wildcats scored eight points for taking first and fourth place while Fallbrook earned eight points for second, third, and fifth.

The 100-yard freestyle was also El Camino’s final first-place finish of the afternoon. The next race was the 500-yard freestyle, and Fallbrook’s sweep of the top three finishes gave the Warriors a 13-3 points advantage in that event. Jordann Heimback won the race in 5:41.82, Aimee Stein posted a time of 6:01.70, and Sarah Draves spent 6:04.71 racing.

First place in a relay race is worth eight points with four points being given for second and two points awarded for third. Taylor Dowden, Heimback, Amilia Thomas, and Emma Thomas added eight points to Fallbrook’s score with a 1:44.67 finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay. Those four swimmers, in the same order, also won the meet-concluding 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:53.04.

Ariana Young had a time of 1:04.15 in the 100-yard backstroke to account for six of Fallbrook’s ten points; the Warriors took third and fifth as well as first. Kierstin Dowden won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:13.70.

“I’m really looking forward to next week, the next two weeks. It’s going to be fun,” Redmond said.

Warrior mermen defeat Wildcats for winning league record

Stephens sets school record for six dives

Fallbrook High School’s boys swim team concluded Avocado West League dual meet competition May 8 with a 94-76 home win over El Camino.

“We had a great meet. Had some good times. Had a few kids get some qualifying times and a lot of kids get personal bests for the year,” said Fallbrook coach Bill Richardson.

Fallbrook’s final 3-2 league record in dual meets included wins over Rancho Buena Vista and Vista along with losses to La Costa Canyon and Carlsbad. “We’re in a tough league, so to come out and have a winning record, a third-place finish with two of the top teams in the county – La Costa Canyon and Carlsbad – is pretty good. We’re in a rebuilding year, so we’ll take that,” Richardson said.

A combination of dual meet records and team positions at the league meet, which will take place at Carlsbad High School with preliminaries today (May 15) and finals tomorrow, will determine the final league standings. There are no team qualifiers for the CIF meet other than in the three relay races; swimmers and divers qualify as individuals based on times and scores. The CIF meet will be held next week at Granite Hills High School.

If only one school at a dual meet has a diver, the diving is not included in the team score although the diver can participate for CIF qualifying purposes (which includes a minimum participation threshold as well as a qualifying score). Such a meet is also an official meet for school record purposes, and Fallbrook High School junior Ricky Stephens accumulated 251.85 points in his six dives during the meet against El Camino to break his own school record of 250.80 points set March 20. “He is definitely the best and just a super talented diver, and glad to have him,” Richardson said.

Fallbrook set season-best times in all three relay events against El Camino, even though the Wildcats won the 200-yard medley relay race. Victor Haywood, Bobby Guerra, Tristan Curnow, and Eli Foli won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:33.34 while Toby Fast, Quinn Harrison, Connor Kuhn, and Guerra took first place in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:24.50.

A school is allowed to enter up to three swimmers in each individual event and up to two quartets in each relay race. The Warriors swept the top three positions in the 200-yard freestyle race: Guerra won the event in 1:50.78, Fast posted a CIF meet consideration time of 1:52.56, and Chaz Sommer completed his eight laps in 2:06.97.

Curnow’s winning time of 23.07 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle was also a consideration time, and although he did not win the 100-yard butterfly he earned automatic qualifying status in that event and Jacob Karasek also received consideration status for his 100-yard butterfly time.

Guerra won the 100-yard freestyle with an automatic time of 48.26 seconds. Sommer gave Fallbrook first-place points in the 100-yard backstroke 1:03.25 after the starter’s gun was fired. Harrison didn’t win the 500-yard freestyle but posted a consideration time.