Cuesta hosts the 44th Annual Arena Swim and Dive Invitational this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  This is the Cougars first home meet of the season and remains a great opportunity for Cuesta's always impressive aquatics teams.  Cuesta men's and women's team both finished 3rd at the 2022 CCCAA State Championship and have started strong this season.  The men are led by returning All Americans Stash Perry, Andrew Lopez, Ethan Perry, Ethan Blum and Eron Ray, plus hot shot freshman Ethan Merritt, Zachary O'Connor and Gage Price.  The women have a smaller team this season, but still have returning All Americans Anna Kreowski and Chloe Porter in the lanes. The Cuesta-Arena Meet, due to its prominence and location, is often considered the State's premier meet and the best preview for the CCCAA State Championship in May.  The Cougars expect this year's meet be closer to its pre-pandemic numbers, with anywhere from 700 to a thousand athletes.

Forty-three years ago, Cuesta Aquatics' Founding Coach Terry Bowen enlisted Guy Wells and Greg Hind as the primary sponsors of his small five-school swimming and diving meet.  The meet has changed sponsors over the past four-plus decades with Wells and Company, Straight Down, Finis and current sponsor Arena all taking a roll, while the event grew in popularity and prestige.  At its height the invitational boasted over 35 colleges, 68 teams and over 1,000 entries and was the largest collegiate swim invitational in the nation.