On Friday, March 11, and Saturday, March 12, the COS Swim and Dive teams finished in fourth place out of 21 total teams at the Cuesta Invitational in San Luis Obispo.

Both the men’s and women’s teams finished in the fourth spot, and both teams have highlights to cover from the meet.

On the first day, Joshy Peters broke a record set by Walter Bricker in the 100m freestyle with a time of 46.48 seconds.

Peters would go on to break the 100m backstroke record, set by Chase Canterbury in 2018, with a time of 53.79 on the second day of the invitational.

For the women’s swim team, Jillian Lambert would go on to beat 74 other athletes in her event and take first place in the 50m free with a time of 25.16.

Beyond just the event winners, every single one of COS’ swimmers did their job in this invitational. While being faced with competition from 21 other junior colleges in California, they excelled at staying emotionally strong during tough times, as head coach Allyson Briano would go on to describe.

“I am most proud of my team’s ability to stay mentally tough. Even in the middle of a rigorous training schedule when their bodies are exhausted and fatigued, they continue to show up and race at 100% effort,” Briano said.

Looking past just the swim side of things, Briano added on what a great job the COS Dive team was able to score some decisive points for the team as a whole, saying,

“Divers Jude Dizon and Ezra Cox got 4th place, and their scoring provides us a nice advantage over teams with divers who weren’t able to place as highly as them.”

Overall, COS Swim and Dive were able to create a performance that sets a further precedent of serious competition among the rest of the schools in the state.

Firmly established from each of their last events, COS aquatics is looking forward to taking the experiences of these last two large events into their next home meet of the year on March 25.

“Our performance at Cuesta and getting fourth is really an honor and inspiration, seeing that we can step out of our conference and put up a good fight with larger teams from larger conferences,” Briano said. “It is very motivating for our swimmers to be around athletes who are faster than us because it reminds us of our end goal, and that our sport is home to some truly tremendous athletes.”

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