Guerra, Dowden sweep league swimmer of the year awards

The Valley League swim coaches held their post-season meeting May 18, and the portion of the meeting which selected the league's swimmers of the year resulted in a Fallbrook High School sweep.

Bobby Guerra was selected as the boys swimmer of the year and Taylor Dowden received girls swimmer of the year honors. Both were seniors during 2015.

During the Valley League swim finals May 9 at Fallbrook High School, Guerra and Dowden each won two individual events and both of them were also part of two winning relay teams.

Guerra won the 200-yard individual medley in 1:55.48 and the 100-yard freestyle in 47.09 seconds. Guerra, Chase Carpenter, Victor Haywood, and Eli Foli won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:29.66. Toby Fast, Jacob Karasek, Haywood, and Guerra had a first-place time of 3:20.73 in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

"He was definitely deserving. What a great season he had, great career," said Fallbrook boys coach Bill Richardson. "He was clearly the best swimmer in the league."

Dowden won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:10.54 and the 200-yard individual medley in 2:18.29. Her time in the breaststroke broke Lauren Codington's 1999 school record of 1:10.58. Dowden, Jordann Heimback, Amelia Thomas, and Emma Thomas won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:43.75 while Dowden, Ariana Young, Amelia Thomas, and Emma Thomas won the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:43.69.

"It was exciting and also well-deserved. She won two individual events, one of them being a new school record," said Fallbrook girls coach Sean Redmond.

Dowden received the support of all five Valley League girls coaches who were present at the meeting. "It was good to see that the other coaches supported that she was able to get that," Redmond said.

Dowden was one of three girls to win two individual events at the Valley League meet. Young won the 200-yard freestyle race in 2:01.27 and the 100-yard backstroke in 1:02.79. Karina Thomson, who was a Classical Academy sophomore in 2015, won the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard butterfly.

Fallbrook's boys and girls both won the 2015 Valley League swim championships. The positions for the final league standings are based on a combination of dual meet records and positions at the league meet. Both Fallbrook teams were undefeated in dual meet competition and placed first at the league meet.

The league meet finals alone determine individual league champions, and those league champions are automatically first-team Valley League selections. The league meet also included the diving competition May 8 at Fallbrook High School, which made 2015 freshman Joey Greenwood the first Fallbrook league champion of the meet when he totaled 189.45 points on his six dives.

Fast and Karasek added individual league championships to their 400-yard relay win at the league meet and thus earned all-league status as individuals as well as for their roles on the relay team. Fast won the 200-yard freestyle race in 1:50.15. Karasek had a winning time of 51.18 seconds in the 100-yard butterfly.