Canyons Swimmers Record Nine Top-10 Finishes at Cuesta Invitational

Two College of the Canyons student-athletes pose side by side for a Cuesta College Invitational graphic. On the left, Ian Rho stands with arms crossed wearing reflective swim goggles and a COC jacket, with results listed: 4th place (4:33.90) in the 400Y IM and 7th place (26.74) in the 50Y Backstroke. On the right, Nicole Lerma smiles in a COC jacket with sunglasses hanging from her shirt, with results listed: 6th place (157.05) in the 3M Dive and 7th place (140.20) in the 1M Dive. The College of the Canyons athletics logo and a cougar graphic appear between them.
Results
March 9, 2026

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director  

SAN LUIS OBISPO — College of the Canyons competed at the 47th Annual Cuesta College Invitational over the weekend, with the Cougars' teams combining for nine top-10 finishes during the three-day meet.

COC freshman Ian Rho was the leader for Canyons after posting six top-10 results at the meet.

Rho's top result came in his fourth-place performance in the 400-yard IM event at a time of 4:33.90. The Crescenta Valley High School alum also finished seventh in both the 50-yard backstroke (26.74) and 500-yard freestyle (5:08.43) events.

Elsewhere, it was Rho finishing eighth in the 100-yard IM (57.41) and 200-yard backstroke (2:01.96) events. He rounded out the meet by taking 10th in the 200-yard IM (2:04.24).

Freshman Bretton Williams' top mark came in a ninth-place result during the 3m dive event (107.20).

The Cougars' men's team placed 12th in the field of 20 competing schools.

On the women's side it was sophomore Nicole Lerma earning points in both dive events. The sophomore took sixth in the 3M event (157.05) and seventh in the 1M dive (140.20).

Those results were enough for COC to finish 18th in the women's team standings.

Full results from the meet are included here.

Canyons is back in the pool Saturday, March 14, during the Western State Conference (WSC) meet hosted by L.A. Valley College. Competition begins at 11 a.m.

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.