Cougars Combine to Win Four Events at First WSC Meet

Split graphic showing two divers at an outdoor pool during a first-place competition. On the left, College of the Canyons diver Nicole Lerma performs a tucked dive from the 3-meter board with scores of 204.65 (3 meter) and 170.60 (1 meter). On the right, a College of the Canyons diver Bretton Williams prepares to jump from the 1-meter board with a score of 140.20 labeled as Breton Williams. A “First Place” banner and a Cougar logo appear in the center.
Results Results
February 23, 2026

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director  

VALLEY GLEN — College of the Canyons swim & dive combined to win four events at the Western State Conference (WSC) meet No. 1 hosted by L.A. Valley College on Friday.

COC sophomore Nicole Lerma was the leader on the women's side, winning both the 1M (170.60) and 3M (204.65) dive events.

For the men's team Ian Rho swam a time of 2:04.94 to win the 200-yard Individual Medley (2:04.94) with Bretton Williams winning the 1M dive (140.20). Williams did not face a competitor in his event.

Rho also finished runner-up in the 200-yard backstroke (2:05.89) to add points for the Cougars.

Elsewhere, freshman Xuanhao Guo continued his hot start by placing second in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:29.55) and followed up with a fourth-place result in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:07.13).

Williams also got involved in the distance events, taking fifth in the 1,650-yard freestyle (21:46.66). Ethan Thai was the final scorer for Canyons with a pair of sixth-place finishes in the 100-yard freestyle (55.20) and 50-yard freestyle (25.35) races.

The Canyons men's team placed fourth in the field of five competing WSC schools. L.A. Valley (147.5) won the meet ahead of Santa Monica College (129.5), Bakersfield College (113), Canyons (73) and Citrus College (39)

Lerma's performance provided the bulk of the points for the COC women's team, with freshman Alyssa Cortez also contributing with a trio of top-10 performances.

Cortez took ninth in both the 100-yard freestyle (1:11.21) and 100-yard backstroke (1:27.61) and also finished 10th in the 50-yard freestyle (31.72).

Host LAVC (229) won the women's meet followed by Bakersfield (116), Santa Monica (90), COC (18) and Citrus (2).

Canyons will continue its season at the two-day Mt. San Antonio College Invitational running Feb. 27-28.

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.