200-yard freestyle relay team wins championship race, Thomas and both freestyle relay teams set school records
Fallbrook High School’s girls swim team posted the Warriors’ best CIF meet finish ever May 16 at Granite Hills High School while breaking three school records in the process.
The Warriors placed third among the 30 Division I schools, including 23 who scored points at the CIF meet.
“It was exciting. We came into the season thinking we could have something good and exciting happen this year, and it did,” said Fallbrook coach Sean Redmond.
The Warriors finished 32 points behind second-place Carlsbad. “I thought we could get a top five team, and third was definitely exciting,” Redmond said. “I’m glad that we finished that way. They swam well.”
The races included Fallbrook winning the 200-yard freestyle relay while setting a school record in that event. Fallbrook finished second in the 400-yard freestyle relay although the Warriors also lowered the school record, and the third-place finishes of junior Emma Thomas in her two individual races included breaking her own school record in the 100-yard butterfly.
The May 14 preliminary heats and the May 16 finals were held at Granite Hills High School. The May 15 diving championship took place at Mesa College. Fallbrook’s only female diver, senior Jessica Fagrell, finished with a score of 163.15 points on six dives which placed 19th and three positions away from any team points.
The swimming portion began with the 200-yard medley relay. The Fallbrook quartet of junior Ariana Young, junior Jazmin Patterson, junior Jordann Heimback, and sophomore Madalyn Johnson finished the championship race in 1:46.46, which earned them sixth place. “That was huge points,” Redmond said. “Having Carlsbad disqualified in the finals didn’t hurt much, either.”
A change approved by the CIF Board of Managers in January increased the number of swimmers who qualify for the CIF preliminaries from 24 to 32 in each event while increasing the number of swimmers advancing to the finals from 12 to 16. The top eight times in the preliminaries are worth lanes in the championship finals while the next eight times allow for a return in the consolation finals.
Heimback thus qualified for the 200-yard freestyle championship final with a preliminaries time of 1:59.48, which placed seventh. Her time of 2:00.53 in the championship race gave her eighth place. Amelia Thomas had a time of 1:59.10 in the consolation final; although the sophomore had a faster time than Heimback, the championship finals swimmers earn the top eight positions and Thomas’ second-place finish in the consolation race gave her tenth place even though her time was the eighth-fastest in the finals. The preliminaries also included senior Claudia Oppermann, who was 31st with a time of 2:13.33.
None of the Warriors qualified for the 200-yard individual medley finals. Fallbrook’s only preliminaries entrant in that event was sophomore Sarah Draves, whose time of 2:28.70 placed 23rd.
Two Warriors reached the championship final for the 50-yard freestyle; Emma Thomas completed her two laps in 24.79 seconds for third place and junior Taylor Dowden had the sixth-place time of 25.29 seconds. Johnson qualified for the consolation final and finished 15th with a 26.48-second performance.
The next race was the 100-yard butterfly. Emma Thomas completed her preliminary race in 57.89 seconds to finish second; El Camino junior Jordan Payne had a 56.88-second swim and Patrick Henry senior Amanda Sumrow was third at 58.64 seconds. Payne lowered her time in the final to 55.95 seconds to repeat the CIF championship she won last year. Sumrow reduced her time to 56.42 seconds to capture second place and relegate Thomas and her time of 57.25 seconds to third.
Thomas also finished third in the butterfly at last year’s CIF finals. Her time of 57.75 seconds in last year’s finals had been the school record prior to her mark at this year’s CIF meet. During last year’s preliminaries Thomas had a time of 57.94 seconds to break Pam Capin’s 1988 school record of 58.74 seconds.
Four Warriors qualified for the CIF finals in the 100-yard freestyle. Dowden was sixth at 54.85 seconds; Amelia Thomas had the 10th-place time of 55.36 seconds; Young finished in 55.72 seconds for 11th place, and Heimback took 56.45 seconds and earned 14th place.
“Kind of shows the strength of our sprint freestyle,” Redmond said.
The Warriors didn’t even have a preliminary entrant in the 500-yard freestyle, but the 200-yard freestyle relay also demonstrated the Warriors’ strength in freestyle sprints. Dowden, Heimback, Amelia Thomas and Emma Thomas swam the preliminaries in 1:40.65, a time bettered only by the 1:40.60 from the Torrey Pines quartet of Isabela Boese, Julee Keenan-Rivers, Lindsey Anderson, and Pina Simone. The Fallbrook girls were on the winning end of the championship final with a time of 1:39.33 while Torrey Pines placed second at 1:39.66.
“That was an exciting race,” Redmond said.
Steele Canyon took third place with at time of 1:40.73.
“Girls haven’t won an event at CIF in a while,” Redmond said.
The Warriors had not previously won a girls relay championship at the CIF meet and have only won three girls individual event championships. The last Fallbrook girls swimmer to win a CIF championship in an individual event was Corinne Harris, who was the 100-yard backstroke champion in 1999. Capin won the 200-yard freestyle CIF championship in 1988. The first CIF champion from Fallbrook was Mary Qualls, who won the 500-yard freestyle at the 1983 CIF meet. Girls swimming has been a CIF sport since 1973.
Dowden, Heimback, and the Thomas sisters also represented Fallbrook in the 200-yard freestyle relay at last year’s CIF meet. They placed second with a time of 1:40.02 seconds, which was the school record until this year’s CIF final.
This year, the CIF added a state meet with the top three swimmers and divers in each event from both divisions at the CIF San Diego Section meet qualifying. Although faster Division II times deprived Thomas of lanes at the state meet in individual races, Fallbrook’s 200-yard freestyle relay team qualified for the first-ever state meet. “That was really exciting to be able to do that,” Redmond said.
In the CIF section meet’s final two individual events, Young placed 12th in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:02.72 and Patterson was 13th in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:13.55. The backstroke preliminaries included a 1:09.13 performance by sophomore Caitlyn Batty, which placed 31st.
The CIF section meet concluded with the 400-yard freestyle relay race. Dowden, Young, Amelia Thomas, and Emma Thomas had the fastest time in the preliminaries at 3:40.88 while the Torrey Pines squad of Keenan-Rivers, Katherine Lauerman, Anderson, and Simone placed second in the preliminaries with a time of 3:42.62. In the finals, Torrey Pines had the winning time of 3:37.15, Fallbrook was second at 3:37.79, and San Marcos placed third with a time of 3:41.59. “Another exciting race,” Redmond said.
Keenan-Rivers finished the first leg 0.17 seconds before Dowden. Young gained 0.01 seconds on Lauerman during the second 100 yards. Amelia Thomas swam her first 50 yards in 25.50 seconds while Anderson took 26.36 seconds, giving Fallbrook a lead of 0.70 seconds. Anderson closed the gap during the last half of the third leg, but Fallbrook still led by 0.38 seconds.
Emma Thomas swam her first 50 yards in 24.53 seconds, the fastest 50-yard split of any swimmer in the race. Simone’s first 50 yards were the second-fastest at 24.65 seconds, giving Fallbrook a lead of 0.50 seconds entering the final two laps.
The fastest 50-yard time of the day occurred when Simone won the 50-yard freestyle in 24.29 seconds, and Simone also won the 100-yard freestyle. A start in the air from the deck rather than from the wall makes the first lap the fastest and thus the final two laps of a 100-yard swim slower than the first 50 yards. Simone completed her final two 400-yard relay laps in 27.68 seconds, the fastest closing laps of any swimmer in that race. Thomas closed out her race with a 28.72-second split.
Although Division II times kept the Warriors’ 400-yard freestyle relay team from advancing to the state meet, the 3:37.79 was still a school record. Dowden, Heimback, Young, and Emma Thomas set a team record of 3:39.53 while placing fourth at the 2014 CIF championship meet.
The post Warrior girls third among Division I schools at CIF swim meet appeared first on Village News.