In 2003 the Cuesta Athletic Department instituted its first true Athlete of the Year Award. The coaching staff was encouraged to nominate their best athlete and a committee was created to weigh performance athletic as the highest criteria. Today Cuesta announced its Outstanding Athletes of the Year for the twentieth time. The 2021-22 Cuesta Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year is Aquatics Star Annie Bartolome (San Luis Obispo HS).
Mid-year Transfer Annie Bartolome made an immediate and potentially long-lasting impact on Cuesta Women's Aquatics this year. In the pool, she posted a record nine individual Cuesta All Time Top 10 marks, including four new records, while leading the Cougars' six-woman team to 3rd place at the 2022 CCCAA State Championship, which is the program's best team mark in thirty years. Bartolome followed up a near-perfect Western State Conference Meet, where she won three individual events and three of her four relays, with a pair of individual CCCAA State Titles and a couple of relay crowns. She demonstrated her versatility and dominance at the 2022 CCCAA State Championships by winning a State Title in both the 100 and 200-Backstrokes and finishing 3rd in the 100-Butterfly. She now holds the Cuesta Records for all three Backstroke events, the 50 (:27.38), 100 (:57.15) and 200 (2:05.07), while also topping the Cougars' all-time charts in the grueling 400-Individual Medley (4:45.97). Beyond all her accomplishments in the pool, Bartolome's arrival, shortly after the women's water polo season was closed down early, made a positive impact on all of Cuesta Women's Aquatics. The highlight for her and her teammates was when they broke Cuesta's 200-free relay mark at the conference meet and later winning CCCAA State titles for both that event and the 800-free relay. Bartolome is the Cougars' sixteenth woman to win a CCCAA State Swim title since the program began in 1979 and the first since Lauren Davis in 2017.
Cuesta College
Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year
2003 Shanna DeMichelle, Napa, CA (Swim & Dive)
2004 Christina Reyes, Los Osos, CA (Cross Country, Track)
2005 Jessie Ritchie, Arroyo Grande, CA (Tennis)
2006 Lindsay Campana, Templeton, CA (Softball)
2007 Whitney Levicki, Santa Cruz, CA (Water Polo)
2008 Julie Coelho, Lemoore, CA (Volleyball)
2009 Chloe Redman, Morro Bay, CA (Tennis)
2010 Kelly Barmann, Cimarron, NM (Cross Country)
2011 Alexandria Bernard, Porterville, CA (Water Polo, Swim)
2012 Devon Kelsey, Atascadero, CA (Cross Country, Track)
2013 Kryn Masutani, Honolulu, HI (Softball)
2014 Riley Cooks, Coarsegold, CA (Volleyball, Track)
2015 Rachel Gruetzmacher, Atascadero, CA (Water Polo, Swim)
2016 Augusta Thomason, San Diego, CA (Track)
2017 Miranda Daschian, Atascadero, CA (Cross Country, Track)
2018 Torie White, Los Osos, CA (Swim & Dive)
2019 Faith Archibald, Atascadero, CA (Water Polo)
2020 Martha Mora, Cambria, CA (Soccer)
2021 Madeline Fletcher, San Luis Obispo, CA (Track)
2022 Annie Bartolome, San Luis Obispo, CA (Swim & Dive)
