UC Santa Barbara Sweeps Team Titles in Return of the Big West Swimming & Diving Championships

2025 BIG WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Dates: Wednesday, February 12–Saturday, February 15
• Location: CRWC Natatorium, Houston, TX
• Defending Champions: N/A (inaugural event)
• Live Results
• Live Video
• Championship Central
• Teams: Cal Poly*, Cal State Bakersfield*, Hawaii*, UC Davis (women)*, UC San Diego*, UC Santa Barbara*
• RESULTS
  • Day 1 |Day 2|Day 3|Full Meet Results
• RECAPS
  • Day 1|Day 2|Day 3

TEAM SCORES (FINAL)

WOMEN

1. UC Santa Barbara – 773.5
2. UC San Diego – 744.5
3. Hawaii – 715
4. UC Davis – 654
5. CSU Bakersfield – 281
6. Cal Poly – 268

MEN

1. UC Santa Barbara – 813
2. Hawaii – 787
3. Cal Poly – 603
4. UC San Diego – 513
5. CSU Bakersfield – 404

The 2025 Big West Championship is in the books, seeing UC Santa Barbara hold on to be crowned men’s and women’s champions. It was tight in both cases, as the UCSB men won by just 26 points over Hawaii, while the women’s team bested UC San Diego by a margin of 29 points. Impressively, UC Santa Barbara managed to win the meet without diving. Of note, UC San Diego doesn’t have diving either.

Of course, there were more Big West meet records that went down on the final day of the meet as well. The first record to fall was the men’s 1650 free, where UC Santa Barbara’s Taber daCosta clocked a 15:03.07. Not only was the swim a meet record, daCosta bettered his previous career best of 15:06.65, which he set at last year’s MPSF Championships.

UC San Diego’s Eva Boehlke, a sophomore, won the women’s 200 back in record fashion. Boehlke clocked a 1:56.94, narrowly beating out freshman teammate Maddie O’Connell, who came in 2nd with a 1:57.21. Boehlke held a narrow lead over O’Connell throughout the last 150 yards of the race. UC San Diego has a lot to be excited about in this event, as another freshman, Sydney Niles, took 3rd last night with a 1:57.87, while yet another freshman, Danielle Greenwood, took 6th with a 2:00.56.

Cal Poly then got in on the action, seeing junior Drew Huston win the men’s 200 back in 1:40.39, shattering the meet record. That was a huge performance for Huston, taking down his previous best of 1:41.26, which he swam at the Texas Hall of Fame Invite back in November. That performance will give him an outside shot of qualifying for NCAAs next month.

It was then Asia Kozan turns to stand atop the podium. The UC San Diego sophomore won the women’s 100 free decisively, clocking a 48.47. The performance marks a career best for Kozan, clipping her previous top mark of 48.58, which she swam in March of 2023. She also took down the Big West meet record with the swim.

Hawaii’s Karol Ostrowski then set a new meet record in the men’s 100 free, earning the win in 42.51. UC Santa Barbara’s Austin Sparrow was right behind, taking 2nd in 42.72 after clocking a 42.66 in prelims. Sparrow’s prelims swim marks his first time under 43 seconds in the event, while Ostrowski holds a career best of 41.25, which he swam at the 2021 Division II NCAAs, when he was competing for Drury.

Though it wasn’t a meet record, UC San Diego freshman Hayley Gregory put up an excellent performance in the women’s 200 breast, winning the race in 2:11.37. She pulled away from junior teammate Chloe Braun, the 100 breast champion from Friday, on the final 50 of the race last night, earning her first Big West title. Braun came in 2nd with a 2:11.96. For Gregory, the swim was massive, blowing away her career best of 2:14.66. Braun’s swim was huge as well, as she came into the meet with a career best of 2:14.66.

After winning the men’s 100 breast on Friday, Cal Poly junior Evan Yoo turned around and put on a show in the 200 breast last night. Yoo took the race in 1:53.64, setting a new meet record in the process. That was a great race for Yoo, marking his first time under 1:54 in the event. UC Santa Barbara’s Kyle Brill, the 200 and 400 IM champion from earlier in the meet, took 2nd with a new career best of 1:54.18.

CSU Bakersfield’s Vili Sivec put up one of the best swims of the night in the men’s 200 fly, tearing to victory in 1:43.13. He downed the meet record with the swim, also clipping his career best of 1:43.18, which he swam at the US Open a couple months ago.

UC Santa Barbara’s Samantha Banos took the women’s 200 fly in 1:56.73. It wasn’t a meet record, but it was a career best, marking Banos’ first time under 1:57 in the event.

The women’s 1650 free went to UC San Diego’s Sophia Bell, who swam a 16:42.24. It was a terrific race to start the session, as Bell won the race by just 0.01 seconds over CSU Bakersfield’s Jessica Franco. It’s not often that we see a mile come down to a literal photo-finish, but Franco deserves a ton of credit for making it so. Bell was roughly a second ahead of Franco with 100 to go in the race, but Bell managed to claw her way up to fully even with Bell over the final few laps.

Hawaii saw their team of Zofia Tyminska (50.28), Holly Nelson (49.61), Arianna Sakellaris (50.61), and Alexia Kovaluk (49.54) combine for a 3:20.04 to win the women’s 400 free relay. It was a meet record performance as well. UC Santa Barbara was close behind, taking 2nd in 3:20.51, while UC Davis was 3rd with a 3:20.96. UC San Diego’s ‘A’ relay clocked a 3:19.60 in the relay, but was DQ’d. That DQ, in many ways, cost them the meet, as UC Santa Barbara won by 29 points.

Hawaii also won the men’s 400 free relay in record fashion. Ostrowski (42.86), Finn Brophy (43.23), Dieter Meyer (43.22), and Regan Richardson (42.95) teamed up for a 2:52.26, winning the race by over a second.

On the boards, Hawaii freshman Macie Wheeler won once again, taking women’s platform diving with a final score of 227.70. The Rainbow Warriors made it a sweep of platform diving, as Juan Ramirez Tamaya won men’s platform in truly dominant fashion, racking up a total score of 376.90 to win the event by nearly 100 points.