Cuesta Men's Cross Country opened the 2021 season at its own Tour de Cuesta.  The meet was scheduled for seven teams, however only made the trip on a great race day on the Central Coast.  The Cougars did not field a scoring team (five finishers) in their first outing and the race was won by Hartnell College, while Saddleback took 2nd and local rival Allan Hancock landed in 3rd.  The Cougars did get some consolation as the coaches for both Hartnell and Saddleback, Chris Zepeda and Matt Sherman, are both former Cuesta athletes.  Saddleback's Nathan Trueman won the race in 22:27.3, while Freshman Luis Cervantes (Santa Maria: Righetti HS) landed in 12th place (23:43.3) as the Cougars top finisher.  Sophomore Brenden Niller (Templeton HS) and Freshman Xander Mahan (Nipomo HS) rounded out the Cuesta pack in 25th (25:50.7) and 28th place (26:34.8), respectively, in the 40-man field.  

The Cougars next race is September 4 at the Fresno Invitational (10 AM).