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College of the Canyons

Nicole Lerma & Joey Besemer Named Jersey Mike’s Student-Athletes of the Week

Split-screen graphic featuring College of the Canyons women’s dive student-athlete Nicole Lerma and baseball student-athlete Joey Besemer against a white background with athletic logos. In the center of the graphic is the Jersey Mike’s and COC Athletics logos set on a blue background, with a Cougar head logo in the background and a text overlay reading student-athletes of the week.
April 18, 2026

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director 

College of the Canyons student-athletes Nicole Lerma (women's swim & dive) and Joey Besemer (baseball) have been named the Jersey Mike's COC Athletic Department's Women's & Men's Student-Athletes of the Week for the period running April 6-11. Lerma and Besemer are the 12th set of honorees for the 2026 winter/spring period.

Nicole Lerma / Women's Swim & Dive

Lerma will be the first women's diver to compete at the upcoming 3C2A State Championship meet in more than a decade after a successful showing at the Western State Conference (WSC) & SoCal Regional Dive Championships hosted by Cypress College on April 10.

The sophomore from Saugus High School placed third in the WSC and fourth in the SoCal region in the women's 3M event with a score of 159.60 to secure a berth at the state meet.

Lerma then totaled a score of 122.95 to place 10th overall in the 1M event to qualify as an alternate at the state meet in that event. Her score also placed Lerma sixth in the WSC standings.

The 3C2A Swim & Dive Championships will be held April 30 to May 2 at Orange Coast College.

Joey Besemer / Baseball

Besemer completed a productive week at the plate during the Cougars' three-game series with conference rival L.A. Valley College.

In the series opener, Bessemer finished the contest 4-for-6 with a home run, double and two singles with two RBIs and three runs scored in helping the Cougars to an 18-7 road victory.

The freshman second baseman from Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, AZ added another hit and run scored in the second game of the series which was a 10-6 extra innings loss for the Cougars.

Besemer then went 2-for-4 with a double, run and four RBIs to help COC beat up on L.A. Valley in 15-8 final score to win the series.

He finished the week 7-of-15 with a home run, two doubles, six RBIs and five runs scored. 

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.