Cuesta's Aqua-Cats completed their regular season schedule at the Bakersfield Invitational last weekend and begin their championship events this weekend with the CCCAA Regional/Conference Diving Meet. All the teams in the Southern California Regional shall send their divers to a regional meet in Long Beach this Friday and Saturday, so they can be scored together by the same judges to determine the CCCAA State Qualifiers. The women's team is set to send Aubrie Kirkby Tatro to the meet, while the men will be represented by Matthew Wheeler, JoJo Simsic, Lloyd Esola, and Carson Waldram. The quintet will be guided by Cuesta Diving Coach Coral Minton, who, in her first turn with the program, helped the Cougars collect more than 70 All American awards off the planks. The rest of the team returns to action at the three-day Western State Conference Championships starting on Thursday, April 18 at Ventura.
Last week the men's team won its fifth straight meet and seventh out of their eight events this season. Cuesta dominated the event by grabbing 879.5 out of a total 2,196 points scored in the five-team meet. Cuesta Freshman Conner Rocha led all scorers with 68 individual points, while his teammates Ethan Merritt and Brady Lind each won a meet-high two individual events and tied for second with 57 points apiece. Rocha competed in four individual events and cruised to victory in the 100-butterfly in :56.11, while also taking 2nd in the 50-butterfly, the Bronze in the 50-freestyle and 4th in the 100-freestyle (:51.39). Merritt won both the 50-breaststroke (:27.80) and 100-individual medley (2:07.02), while landing as the Runner-up in the 100-breaststroke. Lind won the 50-butterfly (:24.19) and 100-individual medley, while finishing second in the 100-freestlye (:48.06). The men also received event titles from Rylan Stevenson, who won the 50-freestyle (:22.43), and Jake Escobar in the 500-freestyle (5:13.60)
On the women's side, the Cougars finished 4th overall with 194 points and missed the medal stand by just six points. Sophomore Presley Acosta led the way with 54 total points, including one event title and two runner-up finishes. She won the 200-individual medley (2:32.38) and took the Silver in both the 50 and 100-breaststrokes to finish 6th overall. Freshman Madison Corrigan finished just outside the Top 10 in 11th place overall. She earned a pair of bronze medals in the 50-butterfly (:32.00) and 500-freestyle (6:07.28).
