Head Coach, Brian Locher with his featured athletes: Miranda Daschian and Sean McDermott.
Photo by Joel Williams/Cuestonian

By Victoria Gracie
Staff Writer

Two athletes were selected to be Cuesta’s athletes of the year due to their outstanding performance.

Cross country athletes, Miranda Daschian and Sean McDermott, were selected as the recipients for the 2016-2017 school year.

The two brought Cuesta its first two cross country state titles in three decades.

Daschian, a sophomore psychology major, and McDermott, a sophomore communications major, both received state titles after having the fastest times in the state competition for cross country.

Daschian and McDermott’s wins are significant for the school, marking the end of a championship drought that began in the early 1980s.

The two athletes have been important to Cuesta sports and have a relationship that other athletes might not be aware of.

Daschian and McDermott took the title of Athletes of the Year as a couple, the quickest community college runners in California.

McDermott knew that with the encouragement of Daschian, he could make a push for those state titles.

“I didn’t think that I could win the state championship until about four weeks before the run,” McDermott said. “Miranda told me even before the season started that I could win state. She made me think that I could do it.”

The athletes of the year are chosen through a committee ran by Pete Schuler.

Schuler is the water polo coach for Cuesta college and also announced for the games here on campus as well.

Coaches nominate players on their team that they believe are candidates then the people in the committee and Athletic director, Bob Mariucci pick the athletes.