Cuesta College
Male
Athlete of the Month
May 2021
Swim & Dive
Cuesta College Athletics Department is proud to announce this month's selections for the Cuesta Athlete of the Month. This distinct honor recognizes two Cuesta College Athletes each month during the school year who have performed to the highest standards in their sport. Our male selection for May is Freestyler Lucas Esenwein.
Freshman Sprinter Lucas Esenwein's season was only three meets long, however he did not need much time to make his mark. Esenwein was undefeated in his ten individual races and posted four new marks on Cuesta All Time Top 10, including a pair of records. On the first day of May, Esenwein took down the most prestigious record on the board. He broke two-time State Champion Jeff Dacus's 1999 50-freestyle record (:20.86). The 50-freestyle is the sport's glamor event and his time of :20.81 shaved five-hundredths of a second of the more than two-decade old standard. He later showed his versatility, in a rare non-freestyle race, by setting a Cuesta mark in a newer event, the 100-individual medley. The 100-IM has only been competed as an off-schedule event for the men since 2015, however his time of :56.24 eclipsed 2018 Cuesta Career Student-Athlete Award Winner Austin Barton's record by more than a full second. Esenwein's marks in the 100-freestyle (:45.64) and non-championship 50-butterfly (:24.80) rank 3rd and 7th all time at Cuesta, respectively.
Cuesta Men's Swimming and Diving finished its abbreviated 2020-21 season with 1st place at the Western State Conference Championship. The Cougars hope to be back fulltime during the 2021-22 season.
