Last weekend, Cuesta College Pool became a small tent city as 20 colleges converged on San Luis obispo for three days of swimming. The pool deck and the surrounding areas were covered with swimmers, coaches and fans as the constant alert from the starter and cheering of fans echoed across the campus. Once the largest swim invitational in the nation, the 2025 meet was the largest since the pandemic. Cuesta's men battled for the title all weekend but could not catch American River. The Beavers claimed the title with 770 points, while the host Cougars took the team Silver with 580 points, which was a safe 37 points ahead of Bakersfield. On the women's side, American River made it a sweep, while the Cougars cracked the Top 10 with 7th place.
The men's team was led by Freshman Phenom Grant Huston, who took 2nd overall in the meet with 94 individual points. Huston enjoyed a huge weekend and racked up three event titles and one runner-up to finish. Huston won the 200-breaststoke with a time of 2:01.86, which broke Andrew Lopez's 2022 school record by almost five seconds. He also broke Tanner Sheldon's 2002 school record (4:04.47) in the 400-individual medley with a time of 3:48.67 to become the first Cuesta swimmer to complete the race in under four minutes. On a near perfect weekend, Huston also won the 100-backstroke but had to settle for Silver in the 200-backstroke. The men also had Returning All American Conner Rocha, who added four top 10 finishes, including a Bronze in the 100-butterfly at :52.07. Rocha finished 6th among the meet's overall point leaders. Freshman Dustin Drobeck added a 3rd in the 200-freestyle (1:50.49) and a 5th in the 200-butterfly to help lead the Cougars.
On the women's side, Freshmen Annika Pauschek and Kailey Ardouin led the way in the lanes, while Diver Elyse Smith picked up points off the planks. Pauschek made big finals three times with a 4th in the 100-backstroke (1:05.99), 5th in the 1650-freestyle (19:59.52) and 6th in the 50-freestyle (:27.10). Ardouin's Third Place in the 400-individual medley (5:17.69) marked the Cougars' best finish in the tank, but she also made big finals with 8th place in the 200-breaststroke (2:46.89). Smith placed 5th off the 1-meter (182.1) and matched Ardouin for the team's top finish, with a Bronze off the three-meter (180.1).
The Aqua-Cats get a bit of a break this week with only one day of competition. The Cougars travel to Santa Monica this Saturday (11:30) for the second of their three Western State Conference Mini-Meets.
