Cuesta Aquatics received a boost from their squad of Divers at the Regional Diving Championships in Long Beach last weekend.  Diver Matthew Wheeler earned all-Western State Conference Honorable Mention off both boards at the 2024 Southern California Regional Diving Meet.  Wheeler finished 3rd in the conference with 147.05 points on the 1-meter plank and 5th off the 3-meter, high dive, while garnering 122.5 points. He and teammate Lloyd Esola, who finished 4th on both boards, are both expected to qualify for the 2024 CCCAA State Meet.  Wheeler's and Esola's efforts have the Cougars in first place in the Western State Conference Meet, after piling up 97 points and a 15-point lead over Runner-up Ventura, as they enter the swimming portion of the Western State Conference Championships this weekend in Ventura.  

This season in the lanes, the Cougars have not just been good against the competition, they are also challenging Cuesta's former greats.  In 18 swimming events, the 2024-team has added nine new Cuesta Top 10 marks, including three new school records.  Freshman Conner Rocha owns two records in the Butterfly.  He broke Dom Magliari's 2013 record in the 100-butterfly with a time of :51.11 and knocked Ethan Blum's 2022 record for the 50-butterfly out of the top spot with a time of :22.97.  In the 100-individual medley, which, like the 50-butterfly, has only been added to the championship events since 2015, Freshman Brady Lind set another new Cuesta standard.  Lind's time of :54.60 marked his as the event's third new Cuesta record holder over the past four seasons.  Rocha and Lind join returning All American Ethan Merritt as the Cougars' top point scorers this season.  They are expected to carry the banner as Cuesta's deep and talented squad chases another WSC Title and looks towards the chance for the program's first CCCAA State Title.  Since 1990, men's swimming has posted 17 Top 10 finishes in the CCCAA State Meet, including a trio of both Runner-up and Third Place finishes.  The WSC Championships will run this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, off campus, at the Ventura Aquatic Complex this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.