Depth gives boys swim league opener victory over White Tigers

Fallbrook High School’s first-ever Valley League dual meet March 27 against Escondido Charter at Fallbrook ended as a 96-59 Warriors victory over the White Tigers.

“We relied on our depth,” said Fallbrook coach Bill Richardson.

The Warriors took first place in six of the 11 events and took first and second place only once. “We were aware that Escondido Charter had very few swimmers.

They did have a number of pretty good swimmers,” Richardson said.

Each school may enter up to three swimmers for each of the eight individual events and up to two quartets for each of the three relay races. A swimmer is limited to two individual events and two relay races in one meet, so at least 12 swimmers are necessary to fill out a school’s allotted lanes in every event.

For the individual races, first place is worth six team points; second place gives a school four points; third place provides three points; fourth place earns two points; and fifth place adds one point. In the relay races eight points are awarded for first place, four points are given to the second-place team, and two points are added to the third-place school’s total.

Escondido Charter does not have a junior varsity team, so Richardson expanded Fallbrook’s varsity participation that day. “Some boys had practiced varsity and raced JV because of the numbers, and those boys we brought up,” Richardson said.

Richardson noted that the meet gave new swimmers opportunities while giving the coaching staff an assessment of how they responded, especially to events which were not their normal races. Fallbrook’s participation in a given race was determined randomly. “We drew names out of a hat,” Richardson said.

The performance in “off-events” also allows Richardson and the Warrior swimmers to determine whether they might have strengths in a different race than initially envisioned. “Maybe we switch what they do based on their performance,” Richardson said.

An off-event performance strong enough to qualify for the CIF meet also gives coaches and swimmers additional options. A swimmer with more than two individual qualifying times can still only compete in two events at the CIF meet, but qualifications in additional events may enable other swimmers to seek team points at the CIF meet.

Bobby Guerra won two individual events while anchoring one winning relay race. He posted an automatic qualifying time of 48.34 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle; Fallbrook freshman Tanner Curnow took second in that race at 53.44 seconds. Guerra had already posted an automatic qualifying time in the 100-yard butterfly, but his March 27 time of 52.73 seconds improved on his previous season best and thus will improve his seeding in that event should he swim that race at the CIF meet.

Mason Burkhart, Spencer Mason, Victor Haywood, and Guerra won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1:37.76. Haywood also won the individual 50-yard freestyle race with a CIF meet consideration time of 23.49 seconds. Connor Kuhn had a winning time of 1:01.25 in the 100-yard backstroke. Jaxon Karasek won the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:14.52.

“We’re expecting to do really well in league,” Richardson said.

The win over Escondido Charter, which improved Fallbrook’s overall season record to 4-1, followed a 97-88 home win March 25 against Valhalla. “The biggest difference between the two of us was our diving. We outscored them by quite a bit in the diving, giving us a cushion,” Richardson said.

If the Norsemen had taken first and second in the 400-yard freestyle relay, which is a high school meet’s final event, Valhalla would have won that dual meet. The Warriors were touched out for first place but captured second and the meet victory.

Fallbrook’s sole loss was on March 21, when the meet at Del Norte ended as a 127-59 Nighthawks victory. On March 13, the Warriors hosted San Marcos and recorded a 95-75 victory. Fallbrook’s season began March 5 with a 101-69 victory in a home meet against El Camino.