Warriors second among league's girls swim teams

Dowden sets school record in 100-yard breaststroke

Last year Fallbrook High School won the Valley League girls swim championship and Classical Academy finished second among the league's six teams. This year the Classical Academy girls swim team won the Caimans' first league championship in any sport and Fallbrook settled for second place.

The Caimans won all five of their Valley League dual meets and also took first place at the league meet at Fallbrook High School which consisted of swim preliminaries May 5, diving May 6, and swim finals May 7. Fallbrook lost its home dual meet to Classical Academy, but the Warriors won their other four league dual meets and finished second among the six teams at the league meet.

"I think it was good," Fallbrook coach Sean Redmond said of the Warriors taking second place.

Two Classical Academy swimmers would eventually fare well enough at the CIF San Diego Section meet to qualify for the CIF state meet.

"They really swam well. They had a little bit more depth than we did," Redmond said of the Caimans.

Although Redmond would have preferred a Fallbrook league championship, the emergence of Classical Academy as a league contender enhances the Warriors' competition.

"Overall it's good for the sport to have other girls win and do well," Redmond said.

Fallbrook took first-place points in five of the twelve events at the league meet. Each school was allowed up to four swimmers or divers in each individual event. The swimmers with the top twelve preliminary heat times in each event advanced to the finals with the six fastest ones competing in the championship race and the other six seeking final positions in the consolation race. Position points were given for the top twelve finishes.

The Warriors contested the league finals without Ella Hearn, who competed in the preliminaries but spent May 7 taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SATs).

"They're still student-athletes, emphasis on student," Redmond said.

During last year's league finals Taylor Dowden broke Lauren Coddington's 1999 school record in the 100-yard breaststroke when Dowden won the 2015 race in 1:10.54. This year Dowden won the league championship with a finals time of 1:09.31 to break her own one-year-old school record.

"That was really good. She came into the season working to try to break the school record," Redmond said. "Our goal was to try to do 1:09, which she ended up doing."

Fallbrook seniors took both first and second place in the breaststroke championship race; Jazmin Patterson had a time of 1:12.13. Eighth place was awarded to Fallbrook senior Korin Prefontaine, who completed her laps in 1:23.59. Gabby Vazzana, who was the only freshman to compete for Fallbrook at the league meet, placed ninth with a time of 1:24.11.

Dowden was the league champion in two individual events. She achieved a time of 2:17.28 in the 200-yard individual medley to win that championship race.

"It was a good race. That's the fastest she's ever been," Redmond said.

Dowden was also in two relay races during the league championships; Fallbrook placed first and second in those events.

"To go out on that note as a senior was pretty good and exciting for her," Redmond said.

Fallbrook junior Sarah Draves placed sixth in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:39.66. Vazzana was eighth at 2:42.85 and senior Mackenzie Montgomery had the 11th-place time of 2:55.29.

Dowden, senior Ariana Young, junior Madalyn Johnson, and senior Jordann Heimback had the winning time of 1:42.85 in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

"That relay with those four girls hasn't been beat all year," Redmond said. "We were probably about nine seconds, 8 1/2 seconds, ahead of Classical Academy on that."

Heimback, Patterson, Dowden, and Young finished second in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:44.56. The 200-yard medley relay team of junior Caitlyn Batty, Patterson, Draves, and senior Sierra Peterson also finished second and posted a time of 2:05.62.

Heimback and Johnson also had individual wins. Heimback had a winning time of 1:59.56 in the 200-yard freestyle to beat out Classical Academy's Carly Hoff, whose time was 2:01.31.

"It was a great race," Redmond said. "It came down to the last 50 (yards), actually the last 25."

Peterson was seventh in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:20.04, and junior Lauryn Scrape placed tenth with a swim of 2:17.34.

Johnson won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.48 seconds.

"That was unexpected, to be honest, I think by most people," Redmond said. "She took it out, led from start to finish."

Heimback added a second-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly, which she completed in 1:01.00. Patterson was fourth in that race at 1:09.41 and Batty had the fifth-place time of 1:12.06. The consolation final provided a time of 1:20.46 for junior Rena Marie Richardson, which gave her ninth place.

Young had a time of 55.31 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle for second place. Johnson was third in that race with a time of 58.52 seconds. Peterson placed eighth after a 1:03.89 performance. Scrape had the 11th-place time of 1:06.37.

Young also took second in the 100-yard backstroke by finishing that race in 1:02.64. Batty took fourth place with a time of 1:09.21 and Montgomery earned ninth place with a 1:18.16 swim.

The only Fallbrook diver in the league meet was junior Amelia Johnson, who scored 166.30 points on her six dives to place fourth.

Draves finished sixth in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 6:17.30. Richardson was 11th at 6:46.28 and sophomore Emily Bashara finished 12th after completing her laps in 6:49.01.