Cuesta Men's Swimming Crushes Competition in Season Finale
Cuesta College hosted the 2021 Western State Conference Swim & Dive Championships on Saturday, however with the addition of South Coast Conference powerhouse Mt San Antonio it became a CCCAA Southern California Regional Championship. Swimming does not have a regional meet, in most years teams qualify for the CCCAA State Meet out of their conference, but the Mounties were the only other team in the Region competing this Spring. The Cougars absolutely dominated the field on Saturday by winning 13 of the 17 events. Cuesta's 193 points easily outpaced Runner-up Mt San Antonio's total of 63 and accounted for the bulk of the 335 available points. The meet marked the end of the 2021 California Community College Swim and Dive schedule. The CCCAA is not hosting a state-wide championship meet this year.
The men's swim and dive team dominated the 2021 Western State Conference Championship and, if awards are allowed this year, ten different "Aqua-cats" combined to post 28 individual all-conference performances. 2019 Cuesta Swim & Dive MVP Satoshi Shinkawa (Kingsburg HS) and Freshman Record Holder Lucas Esenwein (Morro Bay HS) both won all four of their individual events to lead the Cougars. Shinkawa swam a team-high 1,200-yards of competition, between his three relay starts and four individual wins. He and Esenwein established the Cuesta's spot at the top as the last two legs in the Cougars' meet-opening win in the 200-Free Relay (1:25.15). Shinkawa didn't get much rest after that race and was back in the lanes for two of the next four events, where he won both the 200-Individual Medley (1:59.92) and the 100-Butterfly (:51.53). His time in the butterfly moved him past Cuesta's most decorated aquatics athlete, Chris Lund, for 2nd all time at Cuesta. Shinkawa had a little more rest between his next wins as he claimed both the 400-Individual Medley (4:19.44) and 200-Butterfly (1:59.23), which moved him right behind Lund for 2nd all time. Esenwein, who set Cuesta's 50-freestyle record two weeks ago, mainly stuck with the freestyle events and he easily won the 50 (:20.97), 100 (:45.64) and 200 (1:43.58)- freestyles. However, he also broke out and demonstrated his versatility by winning the 100-Individual Medley (:56.24), while setting a new Cuesta Record in the event. Freshman Kiran Heidler (SLO HS) just missed joining his teammates with four wins. He won three events, the 500-Freestyle (4:53.53), 50-Backstroke (:25.74) and 200-Backstroke (1:57.81); but was second in the 100-Backstroke. The Cougars dominated the field and were able to demonstrate their depth of talent with all-conference performances in every race, including four runner-up finishes behind their 11 individual victories. 2019 All American Gabriel Browning (Los Alamitos HS), in the 50 and 100 freestyles, Freshman Layne Porter (Orcutt: Righetti HS), in the 100-IM, and Freshman Eric Klang (Bakersfield), in the 200-IM, all finished second behind a WSC Champion teammate.
Notes- Below is a list of Cuesta's Men's Swim & Dive All Western State Conference (Top 5)
Men's Team, WSC Champions- 1st Place
All-WSC First Team- Satoshi Shinkawa, 100-Butterfly
All-WSC First Team- Satoshi Shinkawa, 200-Butterfly
All-WSC First Team- Satoshi Shinkawa, 200-Individual Medley
All-WSC First Team- Satoshi Shinkawa, 400-Individual Medley
All-WSC First Team- Lucas Esenwein, 50-Freestyle
All-WSC First Team- Lucas Esenwein, 100-Freestyle
All-WSC First Team- Lucas Esenwein, 200-Freestyle
All-WSC First Team- Lucas Esenwein, 100-Individual Medley
All-WSC First Team- Kiran Heidler, 500-Freestyle
All-WSC First Team- Kiran Heidler, 50-Backstroke
All-WSC First Team- Kiran Heidler, 200-Backstroke
All-WSC Second Team- Kiran Heidler, 100-Backstroke
All-WSC Second Team- Gabriel Browning, 100-Freestyle
All-WSC Second Team- Gabriel Browning, 200-Freestyle
All-WSC Second Team- Layne Porter, 100-Individual Medley
All-WSC Second Team- Eric Klang, 200-Individual Medley
All-WSC Second Team- Nick Taylor, 50-Butterfly
All-WSC Honorable Mention- Gabriel Browning, 50-Freestyle
All-WSC Honorable Mention- Gabriel Browning, 50-Breast
All-WSC Honorable Mention- Layne Porter, 50-Backstroke
All-WSC Honorable Mention- Layne Porter, 100-Backstroke
All-WSC Honorable Mention- Layne Porter, 200-Backstroke
All-WSC Honorable Mention- Eric Klang, 50-Butterfly
All-WSC Honorable Mention- Eric Klang, 100-Butterfly
All-WSC Honorable Mention- Eric Klang, 200-Butterfly
All-WSC Honorable Mention- Jacob Sill, 200-Breaststroke
All-WSC Honorable Mention- Jacob Sill, 500-Freestyle
All-WSC Honorable Mention- Josh Halopoff, 100-Breaststroke
