FHS boys swim fourth at CIF meet; Greenwood goes to state diving meet

Fallbrook High School’s boys’ swim team placed fourth at the CIF meet.

“I felt it was a good finish for us,” Fallbrook coach Bill Richardson said. “I thought we did really well.”

Position points are given for the top 16 finishes. First place in individual swim races and for diving is worth 20 team points with second place giving the school 17 points and third place adding 16 points to a team total. Relay races give 40 team points for first place, 34 for second and 32 for third.

“Relays are where you get the majority of points for CIF,” Richardson said. “If you are in the top two or three in a couple of relays that puts you in the top five in the meet.”

Fallbrook finished second among Division I schools in both the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 400-yard freestyle relay. The Warriors also received second-place individual points from senior Joseph Greenwood in the diving competition and sophomore Cameron Batty in the 100-yard freestyle.

Torrey Pines High School won the Division I championship with 355 points. Poway High School was second with 236 points. Carlsbad High School had 167 points for third place. Fallbrook’s 142 points edged out the 141 points of fifth-place San Marcos High School and the 140 1/2 points of sixth-place Steele Canyon High School. Mission Hills High School accumulated 126 points and finished seventh.

Richardson said that the schools which finished ahead of Fallbrook compete with predominantly club swimmers.

“We’re a high school program where all of our kids stay with the high school during the high school season,” Richardson said.

Many of Fallbrook’s swimmers are also on the Warriors’ water polo team while the year-round swimmers participate in laps competition during the fall.

“We double dip,” Richardson said.

Individual swimmers or divers with the top four times or scores from Division I and Division II combined qualified for the May 18-19 state meet; Greenwood was also second overall and earned a trip to the state meet in Clovis, California. Batty’s 100-yard freestyle time placed fifth overall. The top three relay teams from the two divisions combined in each event earn lanes at the state meet; Fallbrook overall was fourth in the 200-yard freestyle relay and sixth in the 400-yard freestyle relay.

The swimmers or relay teams in each division with the top eight times in the May 9 preliminary heats at Granite Hills High School advanced to the championship race, May 12, at Granite Hills, while those with the next eight fastest times qualified for the May 12 consolation race. The diving championship meet was held May 11 at Mesa College.

Seven judges scored the divers. The two highest scores and the two lowest scores were discarded, and the middle three scores were added and then multiplied by the dive’s degree of difficulty to determine the score for each dive. Greenwood led all divers after three rounds of the six-dive meet, but Patrick Henry High School senior Jack Macceca gambled on dives with a higher degree of difficulty and his execution paid off in the end.

Macceca won the Division I championship with 321.55 points on six dives, while Greenwood was second with 302.60 points. West Hills High School junior Devin Hunt was third overall and first among Division II divers with 301.30 points. Steele Canyon senior Nathan Cummins was fourth overall and third among Division I competitors with a score of 285.15 points.

“They all dove very well,” Greenwood said. “I think we’re all happy with where we placed.”

“Sometimes it comes down to who has the higher DD (degree of difficulty) and who’s going to nail it,” Fallbrook diving coach Sean Redmond said.

The forward 1 1/2 somersault 1 twist free dive is normally assessed a 2.2 degree of difficulty, but at least one of the dives must be scored with no higher than a 1.8 degree of difficulty. Middle scores of 7.5, 7.5 and 7 gave Greenwood 39.60 points on that dive, which was his first of the meet. Macceca also began with that dive and scored 42.30 points.

Greenwood and Macceca both performed a forward 2 1/2 somersault pike with a 2.6 degree of difficulty for their second dive. Macceca ended the round with 103.40 total points, while Greenwood had 99.40 points including 59.80 points on that dive from middle scores of 8.0, 7.5 and 7.5.

Greenwood attempted an inward 1 1/2 somersault pike with a 2.4 degree of difficulty for his third dive, and three middle scores of 7.5 gave him 51.60 points on that dive and improved his cumulative score to 151.00 points. Macceca attempted a reverse 2 1/2 somersault tuck with a 3.0 degree of difficulty. A 6.0, a 5.0 and two 4.0 scores were discarded, and his middle scores of 4.0, 4.5 and 5.5 were multiplied to give him 145.40 points after that dive.

Greenwood’s fourth dive was a reverse 1 1/2 somersault tuck with a 2.1 degree of difficulty. Three middle scores of 7.5 brought his total score to 198.25. Macceca executed an inward 1 1/2 somersault pike and was given middle scores of 8.0, 8.0 and 7.5 which gave him the lead with 201.80 points after four dives.

The fifth dive for Greenwood was a back 1 1/2 somersault pike with a 2.3 degree of difficulty. Middle scores of 7.0, 7.0 and 6.5 gave him a score of 245.40 points with one dive remaining.

Macceca’s fifth dive was an inward 2 1/2 somersault tuck which has a 3.1 degree of difficulty. Middle scores of 6.5, 6.5 and 6.0 gave Macceca a cumulative score of 259.15 points.

Both Greenwood and Macceca closed their dives with a forward 1 1/2 somersault 2 twists free dive, which has a 2.6 degree of difficulty. Greenwood’s middle scores were 7.5, 7.5 and 7.0. Macceca had middle scores of 8.5, 8.0 and 8.0.

“I’m extremely happy with my score,” Greenwood said. “It took a lot to get here, and it’s rewarding to get second. I’d like to say good job to Jack. He’s a really good diver.”

“I'm glad to have been able to dive with Joseph,” Macceca said, who will continue his diving career with Air Force Academy.

Greenwood will serve on a mission trip with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before choosing a college diving program.

Greenwood placed 18th in the state meet. The meet began with 27 divers competing in the preliminaries. The divers with the top 20 scores after five dives advanced to the semifinals and those with the top 16 scores after eight dives competed in the finals. Greenwood accumulated 274.15 points on eight dives.

“Overall he had great improvements from last year,” Redmond said. “It was just a great experience for him.”

Last year Greenwood was 22nd after five dives with 166.85 points.

Fallbrook freshman Hayden Orchard also qualified for the CIF diving meet and finished 19th among Division I divers after his six dives totaled 149.55 points.

Batty complemented his Division I second-place 100-yard freestyle finish with fifth place in the 50-yard freestyle.

“He did very well in those events,” Richardson said.

Batty actually swam the fastest 100-yard freestyle time of the preliminary races at 46.90 seconds. Steele Canyon sophomore Trevor Moore posted the second-place time of 47.02 seconds, Vista High School junior Jaedan Calder completed his laps in 47.06 seconds for third and Oceanside High School sophomore Andrew Bowman had the fourth-fastest time of 47.37 seconds.

Calder won the championship final in 45.74 seconds with Batty finishing in 46.98 seconds, Bowman having the third-place time of 47.05 seconds and Moore finishing fourth at 47.09 seconds. Batty held third place after the first 50 yards, which took Calder 23.95 seconds. Bowman completed his second lap 24.33 seconds after the starter’s gun was fired, and Batty touched the wall 24.49 seconds after the race commenced. Moore had a time of 24.65 seconds after the first 50 yards.

Fallbrook senior Tanner Curnow also competed in the 100-yard freestyle championship race and finished seventh with a time of 48.32 seconds. He had a time of 48.31 seconds in the preliminaries to place eighth.

The 100-yard freestyle consolation race included senior Greg Jameson finishing 16th with a time of 50.22 seconds. Jameson was also 16th in the preliminaries, when his time of 49.72 seconds.

A fourth Fallbrook swimmer, sophomore Derek Enns, was 29th in the preliminaries with a time of 51.25 seconds.

Batty had a time of 21.82 seconds in the 50-yard freestyle championship race for fifth place. He had the fourth-fastest preliminaries time at 21.71 seconds.

“He had a great season,” Richardson said of Batty.

Jameson competed in the 50-yard freestyle consolation race; his time of 22.46 seconds earned 12th place. Jameson swam his preliminaries heat in 22.29 seconds, which was the ninth-fastest time.

Poway’s 200-yard freestyle relay team of senior Tanako Timmerman, junior Steven Crotty, junior Trent Loosbrock and freshman Ben Huffman won the championship race in 1:26.97. Enns, Jameson, senior Gage Oppenborn and Curnow had a time of 1:28.74 to take second.

The top-three finish in the 200-yard freestyle relay was Fallbrook’s 12th in 18 years.

“It’s fun to keep that streak,” Richardson said.

The 400-yard freestyle relay is the final race of the meet. Fallbrook was in fourth place entering that competition. Torrey Pines took first place in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a time of 3:09.95. Batty, Jameson, senior Matthew Kuhn and Curnow had a 3:14.30 performance to provide Fallbrook with the 34 points for second place.

Fallbrook’s 200-yard medley relay team of Kuhn, senior Aria Firooz, junior Tiane Maestas and Curnow placed 13th with a time of 1:45.34. Their preliminaries time of 1:44.02 was also the 13th-fastest.

Kuhn swam the backstroke preliminaries in 57.87 seconds for 19th place and junior Caleb Smedley placed 24th with a time of 59.98 seconds. Maestas placed 19th in the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:04.25 swim; Firooz was 25th at 1:05.85. Maestas had the 20th-fastest 100-yard butterfly preliminaries time of 55.92 seconds, and junior Chase Williamson completed that event in 59.71 seconds for 31st place. Kuhn placed 23rd in the 200-yard freestyle with a preliminaries time of 1:52.51. Smedley had a 200-yard individual medley time of 2:09.61 for 29th place in the preliminaries.