Big West Conference – Men and Women
- Dates: Wednesday, February 11–Saturday, February 14
- Location: CRWC Natatorium, Houston, TX
- Defending Champions: UC Santa Barbara women (1x); UC Santa Barbara men (1x)
- Live Results
- Schedule of Events (PDF)
- Championship Central
- SwimSwam Fan Guide
- Teams: Cal State Bakersfield, Grand Canyon (men)*, Hawaii, San Diego (women)*, Seattle*, UC Davis (women), UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara
- Recaps: Night One | Night Two
- Night Three Results
There is just one day remaining of the 2026 Big West Championships, and after three days of competition, the Hawaii men and women lead the overall team standings.
The Hawaii women have a commanding 110 point lead that appears insurmountable with one day left, but the Hawaii men are locked in a battle with the Grand Canyon men, coming in just 31 points ahead before the final day of the meet.
Team Scores After Day 3
Women
- Hawaii — 560
- UC Davis — 450
- UCSD — 441
- UCSB — 424
- San Diego — 231
- Seattle U — 121
- CSUB — 103
Men
- Hawaii — 478
- Grand Canyon — 447
- UCSD — 367
- UCSB — 349
- CSUB — 241.5
- Seattle U – 171.5
Women’s Meet Recap
Just like Thursday, the highlights of the women’s meet on Friday wer the two new automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Championships via conference title.
The first AQ of the night came from UCSD junior Asia Kozan in the 200 free. After she missed qualifying in the 500 free on Thursday, she won the 200 free on Friday in 1:45.52, one hundredth under the AQ time of 1:45.53.
She sat tied for 2nd at the 100-yard turn, flipping in 52.65 to come in two tenths behind UC Davis sophomore McKenna Valenta‘s 52.41 and tied with UCSB’s Samantha Banos. From there, Kozan jumped into the lead, splitting 26.34/26.53 to have the fastest final 100 split in the field, winning the event by more than a second.
Banos was 26.89/26.82 on the final 100 to finish 2nd in 1:46.36, and Valenta finished 3rd after splitting 27.68/27.62 to touch in 1:47.71.
In the next event, UCSD’s Chloe Braun swam 58.95 to pick up the 2nd AQ time and set the 17th fastest time in the country this season. She was slightly faster in the prelims, swimming 58.79 to drop under 59 seconds for the first time, dropping from the 59.09 she swam at last year’s NCAA Championships.
UCSB’s Ashley Ray finished 2nd in 1:00.67 and UCSD’s Haley Gregory was 3rd in 1:00.68.
The women’s meet kicked off with the 100 fly, where UCSD’s Eva Boehlke picked up her 2nd win of the meet in the 100 fly, swimming 52.79 to just miss the AQ time of 52.52 by two tenths. This was a new personal best by more than half-a-second, dropping from the 53.19 mark she set in November. Boehlke already has an NCAA qualification in the women’s 200 IM from her win on Thursday night.
UCSB’s Makena Leacox swam 52.91 to finish 2nd, about half-a-second ahead of Holly Nelson, who won the women’s 50 freestyle earlier in the meet. Nelson finished 3rd in 53.46 for Hawaii.
UC Davis freshman Ella Ackerman had a huge drop in the 400 IM, swimming 4:15.47 to win the event at her first conference championships. Her previous best was 4:18.93 from December of 2024, marking a three second drop.
Ackerman was out to an early lead in the butterfly, splitting 57.23 to turn in 1st. She struggled on the backstroke, splitting 1:07.45 to drop from 1st to 7th in the heat. Her breaststroke (1:12.23) and freestyle (58.56) were enough to move her back into the lead over UCSD’s Sydney Niles.
Niles finished 2nd in 4:15.98 and Hawaii freshman Carlotta Ingenerf swam 4:16.05 for the bronze.
In the women’s 100 backstroke, Madison O’Connell from UCSD swam the top time of 53.81, touching two tenths ahead of UCSD freshman Addie Everage, who swam 54.05 for 2nd. UC Davis junior Emily Scheberies was 3rd in 54.13.
In the diving event, Hawaii took the top four spots with Macie Wheeler earning the win in 352.70 ahead of Kiera Chandler (308.00) and Lovisa Gusstavson (292.15).
The meet wrapped up with the women’s 400 medley relay where UCSD took the top time in 3:35.48, a new meet record with their four individual event winners.
Boehlke led off in 53.56. Braun split 58.99 on the breaststroke. O’Connell was 53.89 on the butterfly, and Kozan anchored in 49.04. They took down UCSB’s meet record of 3:37.88 from 2009.
UCSB finished 2nd in 3:38.23 with Hazel Derr (54.74), Ashley Ray (1:01.38), Samantha Banos (52.79), and Eugenie Lanilis (49.32).
Men’s Recap
There was only one new auto qualifier on the men’s side, and it was Cal State Bakersfield senior Vili Sivec. After missing last year’s NCAA Championships by 0.03 in the 100 freestyle, Sivec earned an automatic berth in the 100 fly on Friday night, swimming 45.91 to come in two tenths ahead of UCSD’s Hunter Cehelnik‘s 46.14 for 2nd.
Sivec was three tenths off his personal best and meet record time of 45.61, but was two tenths under the NCAA standard of 46.11.
Cehelnik swam 46.14 in 2nd and Jasu Ovaskainen from Grand Canyon finished 3rd in 46.59.
In the 400 IM, last night’s 200 IM winner Tom Thalau swam the top time of 3:47.09, winning the event by more than four seconds and dropping more than two seconds from his previous best of 3:49.63 from March of last year.
UCSD’s Colton Milne had an explosive breaststroke leg of 1:04.26 to move from 6th to 3rd. He then split 53.41 on the freestyle to touch in 3:51.18 for 2nd overall. UCSB’s Jack Hendrick finished 3rd with his 3:52.04.
Hawaii’s Evan Pickles won the ‘B’ final in 3:51.21, which would have been 3rd overall in the ‘A’ final.
The men’s 200 freestyle saw Hawaii sophomore Victor Dagenais swim the top time of 1:34.77, touching a little under a second ahead of Grand Canyon’s Mario Perez, who finished in 1:35.61.
UCSB’s Elek Zettle swam 1:35.85 to finish 3rd overall.
Carter Dooling, a senior at Grand Canyon, won the men’s 100 breaststroke in 52.69, missing the NCAA standard of 52.58 by just over a tenth. This swim was more than a second faster than his pre-meet best of 53.66 from March of 2025.
Hawaii’s Tom Caps finished 2nd in 53.47 and UCSB’s Jonah Lee was 3rd with his 53.92.
In the 100 back, Hawaii grad student Karol Ostrowski touched in 46.19 to pick up his 2nd NCAA standard of the meet, swimming just under the time of 46.29. Since he already earned an NCAA qualification in the 50 freestyle, he will not be counted a second time in the 100 back, but he will get to swim a 2nd event at the meet.
Grand Canyon senior Alex Volkov was 2nd in 46.30, just over a tenth back of Ostrowski. Volkov led at the 50 mark, turning in 22.05 to Ostrowski’s 22.45, but came home in 24.25 to Ostrowski’s 23.71.
Danielis Kvederis from Seattle U was 3rd in 46.66.
The men’s 400 medley relay saw Grand Canyon earn the top time in 3:07.69, coming in just one hundredth ahead of the Hawaii team’s time of 3:07.70.
On the opening leg, Volkov swam 46.82 to get GCU out in the lead over Hawaii who had Ostrowski split 46.91 on the backstroke.
The Lopes only extended their lead on the breaststroke with Dooling splitting 52.25, the fastest split in the field. Hawaii had Caps split 53.17, which was the 2nd fastest breaststroke split.
Hawaii began coming back on the fly with Jack Simon swimming 45.67 to make up more than half-a-second on Grand Canyon’s Jasu Ovaskainen‘s 46.35.
The freestyle legs saw Hawaii sophomore Finn Brophy split the only sub-42 in the field, touching in 41.95, coming just short of chasing down Grand Canyon’s Guillermo Carrey, who swam 42.27 to hold onto the top spot.
UCSB finished 3rd in 3:10.61 with their team of Lucas Hubbard (48.41), Jonah Lee (53.85), Zac Tamusaitis (45.39), and Elek Zettle (42.96).
yay swimming!
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