Bushnell wins 50 free and 100 free at CIF finals, Warrior mermen fifth

Fallbrook High School senior Stott Bushnell won both the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle at the CIF swim meet May 17 at Coronado High School.

Bushnell had a time of 21.14 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle race and swam the 100-yard freestyle in 45.87 seconds. “He did well,” said Fallbrook coach Bill Richardson. Fallbrook placed fifth as a team at the CIF meet, advancing one position from the Warriors’ sixth-place finish in 2007. “That was my goal at the beginning of the season,” Richardson said of a top-five finish.

Bushnell, who will be seeking a berth on the Brigham Young University swim team in the near future, also posted All-American times in his two individual races. “I was surprised. I didn’t know what the times were beforehand,” Richardson said. “It was nice to know he had achieved that.”

Bushnell’s time in the 50-yard freestyle also broke his own school record. He had swam that distance in 21.27 seconds at the Avocado League finals May 9. “It’s going to be there for a long time, I think,” Richardson said of the record.

Bushnell also set a school record in the 100-yard freestyle at the league finals, posting a time of 45.60 seconds. Bushnell had the top times in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events in the 2007 CIF finals. He won the 100-yard freestyle race with a time of 47.07 seconds, which also gave him a school record for the first time; the previous mark of 47.17 seconds had been set by Danny Ender in 2000. Although he was relegated to the consolation finals in the 50-yard event his time of 21.75 seconds in that race not only won the official seventh place but also was faster than any performance in the championship race.

During the 2007 preliminaries Bushnell’s 100-yard time of 47.81 seconds edged the 47.84-second swim of Patrick Henry’s Brandon Lowe for the top time, and Bushnell’s 47.07-second time in the finals relegated Lowe to second with a time of 47.15 seconds. The two swimmers also took the top two times in the 2008 preliminaries and finals. Bushnell posted the top preliminary time at 46.01 seconds while Lowe’s 46.95 seconds constituted the second-fastest mark during the May 14 preliminary heats.

Lowe closed the gap in the 2008 finals with a time of 46.17 seconds, which would have won the championship race had it not been for Bushnell’s 45.87-second swim.

“The other guy’s a pretty fast swimmer. He had a real good race, especially at the finish,” Richardson said of Lowe. “Stott had enough to hold him off.”

In the 2008 preliminaries Bushnell’s time of 21.15 seconds was the fastest in the 50-yard freestyle. His time of 21.14 seconds in the finals earned him the victory over second-place Ryan Krause of Rancho Bernardo, who had a time of 21.42 seconds. The 50-yard freestyle race also saw Fallbrook sophomore Geoffrey Jameson place ninth.

The swimmers and relay teams with the top six times in the CIF preliminary heats advance to the championship race while those with the next six times swim in the consolation finals. Team points are given for the top twelve positions at the finals.

“When you have someone like Stott who wins two events, it comes down to your relays,” Richardson said.

The Fallbrook 200-yard medley relay team of sophomore Cameron Mannino, junior Zachary Knox, junior Kellen Shanahan, and junior Kai Bowman had a time of 1:47.91 at the finals to place 11th. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of sophomore Jacob Pril, Jameson, senior Nick Fast, and Bushnell nearly won their race, finishing second at 1:28.61 behind the winning Carlsbad team which completed the race in 1:28.02.

“It was a nice race. We just narrowly lost,” Richardson said.

Poway was third in the 200-yard freestyle relay at 1:29.53. “We were pretty far out in front of everybody else,” Richardson said.

During the preliminary heats Carlsbad had the fastest time at 1:28.24 while Fallbrook was second at 1:29.93. “The kids really stepped up,” Richardson said of the one-second drop between the preliminaries and finals.

The third relay race of a swim meet is the 400-yard freestyle relay. Fast, Jameson, Pril, and Bushnell finished fourth at 3:16.30. “Stott made up a bunch at the end,” Richardson said.

The diving preliminaries and finals took place May 16 at Mesa College. Fallbrook senior Kelly Brower finished eighth with 151.70 points, sophomore Chris Knitter was ninth with 150.90 points, and sophomore Luke Jones had 141.20 points to finish 11th. “Divers did real well, scored some points for us,” Richardson said.

Pril finished ninth in the individual 200-yard freestyle race with a time of 1:47.73 and 11th in the 100-yard breaststroke at 1:04.53. Mannino placed 12th in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.85.

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