Girls swim opens league competition with win

Fallbrook High School’s girls swim team concluded competition prior to Spring Break with a March 22 loss to Torrey Pines in a non-league dual meet. The Warriors returned to facing opposition April 9 against Rancho Buena Vista at The Wave and earned a 93-77 victory in the meet which also opened Avocado West League competition for the Warriors.

“We’re right in the middle of hard training,” said Fallbrook coach Sean Redmond. “It’s just been probably the best training that we’ve had in years.

“The kids have just really stepped it up,” Redmond said. “We’re swimming faster at this time of year than we have in a long time.”

The win over Rancho Buena Vista gave Fallbrook an overall season record of 4-2 along with the Warriors’ 1-0 league mark. Fallbrook lost to Mount Carmel in addition to Torrey Pines. The loss to Mount Carmel was by 12 points. “That, I think, has kind of set the tone and shown the girls that we can compete,” Redmond said.

Torrey Pines won last year’s CIF Division I championship. “We had some great races,” Redmond said of the meet against the Falcons.

The loss to Torrey Pines also provided a benchmark for the Fallbrook girls. “They’re taking responsibility and taking charge, which is exciting to see,” Redmond said.

Fallbrook took first-place points in six events against Rancho Buena Vista. Freshman Taylor Dowden won in her first two league individual races, taking 2:26.63 in the 200-yard individual medley and 1:07.44 in the 100-yard backstroke.

Freshman Jordann Heimback was victorious both in her first league individual race and in her first league relay race. The meet began with the 200-yard medley relay, which the Warriors won in 2:01.57. Senior Chelsea Sommer swam the backstroke, junior Kierstin Dowden competed in the breaststroke, freshman Emma Thomas was the Warriors’ butterfly swimmer, and Heimback finished the race with the freestyle stroke.

Fallbrook freshmen had the top two finishes in the 50-yard freestyle race. Heimback completed her two laps in 26.25 seconds while Ariana Young had a time of 26.73 seconds.

Heimback was also second in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 1:03.01. The winning time was 1:03.00. Thomas finished second in the 500-yard freestyle, losing by less than a second, but her time of 5:18:41 is an automatic qualifying time for the CIF meet.

Young, Sommer, Heimback, and Thomas comprised Fallbrook’s 200-yard freestyle relay team which had a winning time of 1:48.26.

Kierstin Dowden gave Fallbrook first-place points in the 100-yard breaststroke, which took her 1:15.25.

“They’re swimming great and swimming fast,” Redmond said of Fallbrook’s swimmers. “They’re motivated and they really want to go up against the best teams and see what they can do.”