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Cuesta Heads to the Bakersfield Invitational for Final Regular Season Meet

Cuesta Heads to the Bakersfield Invitational for Final Regular Season Meet
Posted: Mar 31, 2025

Cuesta Men's and Women's Swim and Dive travels to Bakersfield this Saturday for the Bakersfield Invitational.  The meet in "Nashville West" is the Cougars' final non-championship tune-up before ending the regular season with the 2025 Western State Conference (WSC) and CCCAA State Championships take over the last month of the season (April 11-May 3).  The Cougars and host Renegades are both members of the WSC, where Cuesta's men are undefeated in their three WSC Mini Meets and the women have posted 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishes.    

Last week, Cuesta's Aqua-Cats competed in their third and final WSC Mini Meet at nearby Paul Nelson Pool in Santa Maria.  The men cleared the four-team meet with 185 points to sweep their mini-meet schedule.  They won five of the eight individual events, led by Edward Wallace and Grant Huston, who claimed two titles each, while Cole Adams also added one of his own.  Wallace opened the day by winning the 1,650-freestyle (18:3.50) and later claimed the shorter, but equally grueling, 400-individual medley (4:54.42).  Huston, who already hold the Cuesta record in both those events, won event titles in the 50-freestyle (:22.07) and 200-butterfly (1:58.11), while adding a Silver in the 200-backstroke (1:57.78).  Adams earned his title in the 200-breaststroke (2:23.03).  Cuesta also received medal-worthy performances from returning Freshman Dustin Drobeck and All-American Conner Rocha.   Drobeck took 2nd in the 100-freestyle (:50.48) and finished out a clean medal sweep for Cuesta in the 200-butterfly (2:13.88), behind Huston and Rocha (2:13.04). 

The women's team posted three Bronze Medals in the meet, but none was more impressive than Amelia Braun's mark in the 200-butterfly.  Braun posted the team's 6th Cuesta Top 10 mark of the season with a time of 2:45.93 in the event.  She is also the first Cuesta swimmer to take on the event since 2022.  Her 6th place standing as an all-time Top 10 swimmer, also equals the best marks of the season by her teammates Annika Pauschek and Madison Corrigan, who ranks 6th all time in the 200-backstroke and 200-breastsroke, respectively.  Pausheck also posted a new Cuesta Top 10 mark on the weekend, with her Bronze in the 200-backstroke (2:20.19).  Fellow Freshman Kailey Ardouin, who took 3rd in the 200-individual medley (5:13.40), later joined Pauschek, Corrigan and Braun for a team Bronze in the 400-medley relay and posted a team season-best time of 4:30.46.