Warrior boys take second in swimming, Bushnell sets two league meet and school records

Fallbrook High School’s boys swim team placed second in the Avocado League meet at The Wave in Vista, complementing a second-place position in league dual meet competition.

The league meet also saw Fallbrook senior Stott Bushnell not only win both the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle races but also set league meet records and school records in both events.

Carlsbad won both the dual meet season and the league meet, while Fallbrook was 4-1 in Avocado League dual meet competition.

“I’m happy with it. Carlsbad is pretty stacked,” Fallbrook coach Bill Richardson said of second place. “I think it’s exciting we’re doing well.”

The league meets were also the final opportunity to post qualifying times for the CIF meet. Twelve different Fallbrook swimmers or divers qualified in individual events, and the CIF Division I preliminaries at Coronado High School included 21 Fallbrook entries.

The top six finishers in the CIF preliminaries advanced to the CIF championship race Saturday, May 17, at Coronado High School while the next six finishers competed in the consolation championship race.

“We exceeded last year in the number of swims and in the number of people who qualified,” Richardson said. “Some of the boys are set up fairly well.”

In 2007 the Warriors finished sixth among Division I teams at the CIF meet. “We’re looking forward to trying to crack the top five at CIF this year,” Richardson said.

Swimmers are limited to two individual events at the CIF meet regardless of the number of events in which they qualify.

Fallbrook’s qualifiers for the CIF meet were Bushnell and Geoffrey Jameson in the 50-yard freestyle; Bushnell, Jameson, and Nick Fast in the 100-yard freestyle; Fast, Jacob Pril, and Kevin Wu in the 200-yard freestyle; Kai Bowman and Brennan Fagrell in the 500-yard freestyle; Cameron Mannino and Kevin Reichel in the 100-yard backstroke; Mannino in the 100-yard butterfly; Pril in the 100-yard breaststroke, and Reichel in the 200-yard individual medley.

Kelly Brower, Luke Jones, and Chris Knitter qualified for the CIF diving competition. Fallbrook also qualified for the CIF meet in all three relay races.

The Avocado League preliminaries were held May 7 at The Wave and the finals took place May 9. Bushnell broke two league meet records which had been set by Ryan Carlson of Torrey Pines in 2000, which was the Falcons’ most recent season in the Avocado League.

Bushnell’s time of 21.27 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle broke Carlson’s mark of 21.48 seconds and his 45.60-second performance in the 100-yard freestyle toppled Carlson’s swim of 47.45 seconds. Both of Bushnell’s times also broke school records he had set earlier in the season.

Bushnell had the top times in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events in the 2007 meet.

He won the 50-yard freestyle, and although he was relegated to the consolation race in the 100-yard event his time in that race not only won the official seventh place but also was faster than any performance in the championship race.