Warriors share girls swim league title

Valley League team league championships for boys swimming and girls swimming utilize a formula in which dual meet standings account for 50 percent and the finishing positions at the league championship meet account for the other half. The Classical Academy girls team was undefeated in five league meets this year, including a March 20 victory at Fallbrook which gave the Warriors their only league loss, but Fallbrook beat the Caimans by four points in the league meet to create a shared title between Fallbrook and Classical Academy.

"Our girls were not seeded as high as they were, but they just rose to the occasion and raced," said Fallbrook coach Sean Redmond.

In a league dual meet each team is allowed three swimmers or divers in each of the nine individual events and up to two quartets in each of the three relay races. The position points March 20 gave Classical Academy a 103-80 victory.

The league meet allows up to four competitors in each individual event with only one relay team per school scored for each race. Fallbrook High School hosted the swim preliminaries May 2, the league diving meet May 3, and the swim finals May 4. Four preliminary heats for each individual swim event were held in Fallbrook's six-lane pool. The swimmers with the top six times in each event advanced to the championship final and two consolation finals were also contested. Position points were given for those 18 places.

"With a championship meet the depth really comes through of what a team has compared to a dual meet where you don't need as much depth," Redmond said.

Fallbrook ended the meet with 562 points. Classical Academy had 558 points. San Pasqual took third place with 347 points, Escondido had the fourth-place total of 272 points, Ramona accumulated 269 points for fifth place, and Valley Center totaled 235 points.

Individual league championships are based on league meet results alone. Fallbrook took first place in six of the 12 events.

"It was exciting," Redmond said. "It was such a young team."

None of Fallbrook's individual winners, including relay races, were seniors. Fallbrook had three of the top four diving scores with junior Kelly Hanlon compiling the winning score of 192.75 points on six dives, sophomore Cassidy Ewig taking third place with 161.15 points, and sophomore Chiara Curnow posting the fourth-place score of 147.00 points. Classical Academy freshman Kenny Christianson, who placed second at 180.85, was the Caimans' only diver.

"I think diving was a big part of it," Redmond said of Fallbrook outscoring Classical Academy in the league meet.

Fallbrook's 200-yard medley relay team of freshman Paris Dowden, junior Gabby Vazzana, junior Natalie Wood, and junior Kendra Donoghue won their race in 1:59.13. The meet begins with the 200-yard medley relay and ends with the 400-yard freestyle relay which was won in 3:54.38 by junior Kaitlyn Callagher, sophomore Sophia Wallace, Wood and Dowden.

"It's exciting for them to step up and see how fast they could go," said Redmond of his two winning relay teams with no seniors. "They just got up and raced."

Donoghue won the 50-yard freestyle race in 26.15 seconds. Three Warriors were in the championship final; Wallace took third place at 27.28 seconds and Callagher finished in 27.71 seconds for fifth place. The consolation race was won by sophomore Maggie Walker, who had a time of 28.99 seconds, so the Warriors also obtained the seventh-place position points for that event.

"The 50 free was a big event for us," Redmond said.

Dowden had the winning time of 56.73 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle event. Wallace was third with a 59.40-second performance and Callagher completed her laps in 1:00.27 for fifth place. The Warriors also added 17th place to their position points courtesy of sophomore Jennifer Johnston and her time of 1:09.93.

Natalie Wood won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:06.56, sophomore Anna Draves had the fourth-place time of 1:13.01, sophomore Naomi Wood posted a time of 1:15.96 which was worth ninth place, and Walker finished in 1:17.10 for 10th place.

The first individual swim event is the 200-yard freestyle race, where Caimans swimmers finished second, third, fifth and seventh.

"Classical Academy did a number on us on that one," said Redmond.

Dowden had the fourth-place time of 2:05.48. Naomi Wood finished in 2:25.24 for tenth place.

The championship race competitors automatically have the top six positions regardless of whether a consolation time was faster, and the first consolation race positions automatically determine seventh through twelfth place even if a swimmer in the second consolation race has a faster time. That gave 13th place to sophomore Cindy Buenrestro even though her winning time of 2:24.18 in the second consolation race was faster than some times in the first consolation race. Fallbrook junior Emma Larson placed 14th with a time of 2:27.25.

The final individual race is the 100-yard breaststroke. Donoghue was fourth at 1:14.90, Vazzana earned fifth place with a 1:16.45 result, junior Y'lan Milton earned 10th-place points for her 1:23.62 swim, and senior Ella Hearn concluded her high school career with an 11th-place finish 1:24.93 after the race began.

The Warriors also had four scorers in the 200-yard individual medley. Vazzana finished in 2:28.68 for fifth place, sophomore Ava Poole had the 10th-place time of 2:48.77, Milton touched the final wall 2:51.27 after the start of the race for 11th place, and junior Paige Mansell achieved 14th place with a time of 2:54.27.

A disqualification in the finals limited the Warriors to three scorers in the 100-yard butterfly. Natalie Wood took second place at 1:05.93, Buenrestro had a time of 1:17.19 for 11th place, and Mansell obtained 17th place after completing her laps in 1:22.21.

Fallbrook only had three finals qualifiers in the 500-yard freestyle event. Draves had the fourth-place time of 6:11.47, Larson won the first consolation race in 6:26.19 for seventh place, and Poole earned 15th place with a 6:56.94 swim.

The Warriors' 200-yard freestyle relay team of Donoghue, Wallace, Buenrestro, and Walker took third place with a time of 1:51.06.