Warriors win Four Maiden division at Ironman Relays, fifth overall

Twenty high schools participated in the Ironman Relays swim meet May 3 at Granite Hills High School, and Fallbrook High School’s team finished fifth overall.

“Out of 20 schools that’s pretty good,” said Fallbrook girls coach Sean Redmond.

“That was pretty impressive for not even filling out two of the sections,” said Fallbrook boys coach Bill Richardson.

The Ironman Relays meet includes two co-ed divisions as well as three boys divisions and three girls divisions, so the overall finish is for the combined boys and girls teams. Fallbrook’s girls won the Four Maiden division.

“The girls did a great job,” Richardson said.

The Saturday meet conflicted with lifeguard training, so several Fallbrook boys were either at Camp Pendleton lifeguard training sessions or participating in state lifeguard training activity. Richardson has no objections to the future lifeguards missing a high school meet. “These swimmers are able to turn their hard work into a job,” he said.

Fallbrook thus did not field a complete boys team. “We were shorthanded,” Richardson said.

The Warrior boys participated in all Four Man class races and finished third. Fallbrook did not compete in the Two Man division. The Warriors contested one race in the Iron Man class, in which two swimmers alternate relay legs, and had a 14th-place finish. Fallbrook’s girls were fifth in the Iron Maiden division and 16th in the Two Maiden division. The Warriors’ finishing position points in the Co-Ed Four division placed them 11th for that group of races while their finishes in two Iron Co-Ed races gave them 19th place.

The Warriors had three wins during the Ironman Relays: two in the Four Maiden division and one in the Four Man class. Fallbrook’s girls won the 500-yard freestyle relay in 4:53.48 with Amilia Thomas swimming the 50-yard portion, Emma Thomas competing in the 100-yard segment, Jordann Heimback handling the next 150 yards, and Taylor Dowden anchoring the race for the final 200 yards. The girls 200-yard freestyle relay team of Ariana Young, Aimee Steen, Morgan Brown, and Heimback had a winning time of 1:48.47.

The Fallbrook boys win was in the 400-yard individual medley, in which each swimmer swims each stroke for one lap. Connor Kuhn, Toby Fast, Jacob Karasek, and Bobby Guerra posted a time of 4:05.09.

“We always look forward to that meet because it’s fun. We do relays we normally don’t get to do,” Redmond said. “It’s a long day, but it’s a fun day.”