By Sam Blacker on SwimSwam
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 Live Video Schedule of Events (PDF) Championship Central SwimSwam Fan Guide Teams: Cal State Bakersfield, Grand Canyon (men)*, Hawai’i, San Diego (women)*, Seattle, UC Davis (women)*, UC San Diego, UC Santa BarbaraSCHEDULE
Wednesday (2/11)
Men’s 1-meter diving 200 medley relay 800 free relayThursday (2/12)
500 free 50 free 200 IM Women’s 1-meter diving Men’s 3-meter diving 200 free relayFriday (2/13)
100 fly 400 IM 200 free 100 breast 100 back 400 medley relay Women’s 3-meter diving Men’s platform divingSaturday (2/14)
200 back 100 free 200 breast 200 fly 1650 free Women’s platform diving 400 free relayThe Big West Swimming & Diving Championships will kick off on Wednesday for just the second time since 2010, but with a radically different lineup to last year. We saw six schools compete in 2025, five on the men’s side and all six on the women’s side, but the numbers this year have swelled to eight. That comes even with the loss of Cal Poly, after their athletics department cut the program in March despite significant funding promises.
UC Santa Barbara took the conference sweep in 2025, dethroning the Hawai’i teams which had beaten them the year before back in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) . However, neither of them will have it all their own way – the UC San Diego women are the top seeds after placing second last year, and the top four schools on the men’s side are separated by just 71 points on the psych sheets.
Women’s Preview:
There will be seven women’s teams taking part this year, five returners and two new schools in the form of San Diego and Seattle. The majority of the conference is still made up of those who moved over from the MPSF before the 2024-25 season, which saw a dominant Hawai’i team win seven conference titles in eight years from 2016-2024. UC San Diego were the school to interrupt that streak with their win in 2021-22, and come in as the top seed this year based on the psych sheets.
However, Hawai’i’s strong diving corps will make that a much closer battle than it appears. Hawai’i return the three divers who scored 153 points between them last year on the boards, and with UC San Diego having no diving program that could be the difference between the two.
Defending champions UC Santa Barbara are just ahead of Hawai’i based purely on swimming, but like UC San Diego will bring no divers with them to Houston. They took the win over UC San Diego last year by 59 points, 773.5 to 714.5, with Hawai’i close behind with 673 points, but did only graduate 94.5 of their points from last year and may benefit from the continuity that brings.
UC San Diego will bring two women who hold each three top seeds. Junior Asia Kozan, who scored a perfect 60 last year with wins in the 100 free, 200 IM, and 400 IM, is the top seed again in both IMs and the 200 free. Notably, Kozan is faster than the NCAA automatic qualifying time in the two IM events, entered in 1:57.12 in the 200 and 4:11.41 in the 400.
If she repeats those times and takes the conference title next week, she will make not just her first NCAA Championships but also the first for UCSB since Andrea Ward placed 4th in the 100 fly in 2014.
Her teammate Eva Boehlke, also a sophomore, is the top seed in the 100 fly, 100 back, and 200 back. She took the win in the 200 back events last year, and placed 3rd in the 200 IM and 4th in the 100 back, scoring 51 points, and is also one to watch the automatic qualifying times for if she takes the win.
Chloe Braun is under the automatic qualifying time on the 100 breaststroke, while Hayley Gregory won the 200 breast in 2:11.37 last year, just a tenth off the automatic qualifying time, but has only been 2:15.77 so far this year. Braun made NCAAs last year in the 100 and 200 breast, the only women’s swimmer from the conference to qualify.
Samantha Banos leads the way for UC Santa Barbara, coming in as the top seed in the 200 fly and the second seed in the 500 free, both events which she won last year. She is nearly three seconds ahead of the second seed in the first of those, and is just behind Boehlke on the psych sheets for the 100 fly as well. She was the 200 free champion last year, matching Kozan and Boehlke with 60 points, and is under the NCAA automatic qualifying time in the 200 fly with her season best.
Hawai’i are led by senior Holly Nelson, who is seeded in almost the exact positions she placed last year – coming in 1st in the 50 free, 1st in the 100 free (she was 2nd last year), and 4th in the 100 fly. She is just tenths away from automatic NCAA qualification in the 50 free and 100 free, and leads the field by 0.38 seconds and 0.92 seconds respectively in 22.43 and 48.80.
Hawai’i and UC San Diego each won a pair of relays last year, and dominate the top seeds again this year. Hawai’i are at #1 in the 200 free and 400 free relays which they won last year, while UC San Diego lead the 200 medley, 400 medley and 800 free – the final of those by over six seconds.
Not a single conference champion from last year graduated in the summer, so we will see all 13 returning champions again – and one from Hawai’i, three from UC Santa Barbara, and five from UC San Diego. The top contenders lost relatively few relay legs as well, although UC San Diego and Hawai’i look best placed to score big points in those.
Behind the top three it is UC Davis who look strongest, thanks to their diving squad, which scored 243 points last year, and some high seeds in Naomi Boegholm (50 free, 100 free), Zoe Childers (200 fly, 200 IM, 400 IM), and Ella Ackerman (500 free, 200 fly, 400 IM). They finished just 47 points behind Hawai’i last year, and could threaten for the championship lead with some strong performances in the pool and a repeat of last year on the boards.
San Diego, a newcomer to the conference, will take some of those diving points away from UC Davis courtesy of Brooke Blaylock, Morgan Divita and Regan Santoro, and have a couple of stars on the swimming side in Skylar Bruner and Sydney Wilson, who is the top seed in the mile.
Races to Watch:
50 Free:
Holly Nelson is top seed by nearly half a second for Hawai’i, but the field is congested behind her. There are seven swimmers separated by just over two tenths of a second between 22.81 and 23.05, and the ‘A’ final looks like it could be a lot faster than last year, when only two swimmers broke 23 seconds. The #3 seed last year was a 23.09 – this year that would only be good enough for #9. Whichever team has the hot hand from this event will go into the 200 free relay sky-high in confidence.
100 Back:
Hazel Derr took the win over teammate CoCo Quill last year in a 1-2 sweep for UCSB, but neither one of them is the top seed this year. That honour falls to UC San Diego’s Eva Boehlke, who set a personal best 53.57 at the Pepperdine vs UCSB vs UCSD tri-meet in November. The top four seeds all have season bests from that meet, three swimmers from UCSD and one from UCSB. Quill’s #5 seed in the event mean those two schools hold all of the top five seeds, and the rematch between defending champion Derr and the red-hot Boehlke should be a good one.
200 Breast:
There are three swimmers who could plausibly see themselves qualifying automatically for NCAAs in this event, but only one can win the conference crown and the championship spot. Hawai’i’s Zofia Tyminska is the top seed in 2:11.56, just off the 2:11.27 qualifying time, while the UCSD pair of Chloe Braun and Hayley Gregory will fancy an upset.
Gregory won the event as a freshman last season, clocking 2:11.37, but has not been within four seconds of that so far this season. Braun was 2nd last year in 2:11.96, and may have already locked up an automatic qualifier spot in the 100 breaststroke the day before. Being the only one of the three to swim without qualification hanging over her could be a boon.
200 Free Relay:
The top four seeds are a little more spaced out than last year, when less than a second separated them, but a repeat of the thrilling finale to this event from 12 months ago would go down a treat on Night 2. That saw Hawai’i’s Holly Nelson (22.09) hold off UCSB’s Miranda Stevenson (21.81) and UCSD’s Asia Kozan (21.96) to win by just 0.08 seconds, with all three teams separated by just three tenths of a second. UC Davis are the #2 seed in 1:30.90 – if they do well here and have a big Day 2 on the boards, their momentum could start to snowball through the second half of the meet.
Big West Results from Last Year:
UCSB– 773.5 UCSD – 714.5 Hawai’i – 673 UC Davis – 626 CSUB – 287 Cal Poly – 272SwimSwam Predictions:
If scored purely on swimming, this would look like UC San Diego’s title to lose – they return the most conference champions, have depth across multiple strokes, and have the best swimmer in the conference in Asia Kozan. However, diving will make this a back-and-forth battle, with Hawai’i looking stronger than last season and UC Davis a real dark horse to cause an upset.
Without a diving team, both UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara will struggle to stay ahead of the challengers, and, especially so in UC San Diego’s case, their swimmers don’t have a ton of room to move up. UC Santa Barbara have a mountain to climb to repeat as champions, and the battle for top spot may come down to the 400 free relay – in which Hawai’i were the winners last year. A premonition, perhaps?
Hawai’i UCSD UC Davis UCSB San Diego CSUB Seattle UNCAA Automatic Qualifiers Watch (Based On Season Bests):
50 free (22.28) – Holly Nelson (Hawai’i), 22.43
100 free (48.60) – Holly Nelson (Hawai’i), 48.80
200 free (1:45.53) – Asia Kozan (UCSD), 1:45.81
200 fly (1:57.11) – Samantha Banos (UCSB) – 1:56.14
100 breast (1:00.30) – Chloe Braun (UCSD) – 59.69
200 breast (2:11.27) – Zofia Tyminska (Hawai’i) – 2:11.56
200 IM (1:57.88) – Asia Kozan (UCSD) – 1:57.12
400 IM (4:13.20) – Asia Kozan (UCSD) – 4:11.41
Men’s Preview:
The men’s side is shaping up slightly differently to the women’s, with diving likely having a smaller role to play in the final standings outside of the top two. UCSB were victorious last year behind a strong senior class but Hawai’i are pretty much a wash with them on the psych sheets this year, leading 649 to 644.5. Add in diving, where the Rainbow Warriors scored 110 points last season, and they should have too much for the Gauchos.
Grand Canyon, a newcomer this year, look to be in a fight for 3rd spot with UCSD, with just seven points separating them on the psych sheets. However, as on the women’s side, the lack of a diving team would appear to sink UCSD’s chances of keeping pace.
Last year saw a relatively close battle between UCSB and Hawai’i, with the former winning out by 52 points. That came even without diving, but after some big losses to graduation they will struggle to overcome a strong Hawai’i team, and may need to watch over their shoulders for Grand Canyon.
Karol Ostrowski is the headliner for Hawai’i, an individual NCAA qualifier last season in the 50 free. He leads the psych sheets in that event this season and is in line to qualify for NCAAs again, with his season best of 19.26 nearly two tenths under the automatic qualifying time of 19.43. He is a threat in the 100 free and 100 back as well, although his best of 41.25 in the former is now five years old.
His teammate Finn Brophy was an ‘A’ finalist in the 50 free and 100 free last year as a freshman, but has come on leaps and bounds in the last 12 months. That progress has culminated in a 42.26 in the 100 free which makes him the top seed and a potential NCAA qualifier, as well as the #4 position on the 50 free psych sheets in 19.73. He will be an important relay swimmer on the 200 and 400 relays too.
Carter Dooling and Alex Volkov are the headliners for newcomers Grand Canyon, holding top seeds in the 100/200 breast and 100 back respectively. Dooling leads the field by nearly three seconds in the 200 breast with his season best of 1:55.92, while Volkov is a potential NCAA qualifier in the 100 back. His time of 45.90 is the only one under 47 seconds in the conference, and is four tenths under the automatic qualifying time of 46.29.
Jack Hendrick is the top returner for defending champions UCSB, but is in a trio of competitive looking events in the 500 free, 1650 free, and 400 IM. The latter of those sees three of the top four seeds come from Santa Barbara, with Hendrick joined by Owen Bohi and Connor Martilla. Hendrick and Martilla were both ‘A’ finalists in the event last season, but UCSB lost runaway champion Kyle Brill who was responsible for 57 points alone last year. Without him holding down the breaststroke leg on the medley relays, they may not be able to rack up big points there.
UCSB won seven events at last year’s championship, but return just one swimmer to have won a title. All four of their swimmers from the victorious 400 medley relay have gone, as well as stars Matt Driscoll, Taber DaCosta, and the aforementioned Kyle Brill. It will be tough to cope with those losses.
Hunter Cehelnik is the big name for UC San Diego and the top seed in the 100 fly. He is within a sniff of the NCAA automatic qualifying time there with his season best of 46.40, and adds top-five seeds in the 50 free (19.84, #5) and 100 free (42.94, #3). He scored 36 points as a freshman last year, but is seeded for 50 this year. After UCSD won zero events last year, he could be their first Big West champion since the conference’s return.
CSUB will be led by Croatian record holder Vili Sivec, who swept the fly events last year. His best times would make him the top seed in four events – the 100 free(41.98), 200 free (1:33.48), 100 fly (45.61), and 200 fly (1:43.13) – but he is likely to swim the 50 free/100 fly/200 fly combo he swam last year due to scheduling conflicts. He is under the automatic qualifying time in all four of the events he would be top seed in, and after just missing out on qualification last year (he was 0.03 seconds away in the 100 free) this should be his year. He has been a little off his personal bests in yards so far this season – don’t let that allow you to count him out.
Races to Watch:
200 Medley Relay:
Hawai’i were the winners last season in an NCAA ‘A’ cut of 1:23.64, but have only been 1:26.87 so far this season and only sit 4th on the psych sheets. The top four teams are separated by just 0.59 seconds, with UCSD (1:26.28), GCU (1:26.54), and UCSB (1:26.63) sitting ahead of the Rainbow Warriors. Hawai’i and UCSB each graduated three of their four legs from last season and will need to hit the ground running on Night 1 to prevent GCU winning their maiden event in the conference.
1650 Free:
There are four men at top of the psych sheets within a second of a half, and last year’s top returning swimmer Charlie Franz is not among them. Hawai’i junior Riley Clinton is the top seed in 15:32.15, while there are three UCSD swimmers in the top five seeds. The now-graduated Taber DaCosta was the runaway winner last year, finishing more than 20 seconds ahead of Franz – there should be far more jeopardy this time around.
50 Free:
There are five men who could see themselves dipping under the NCAA automatic qualifying time of 19.43, but the real challenge will be dethroning reigning champion Karol Ostrowski. The Pole was 19.14 to win last season, but notched 18.99 earlier in November 2024. He has been 19.26 so far this year, but has teammate Finn Brophy (19.73), CSUB’s Vili Sivec (19.64), and the GCU pair of Guillermo Carrey (19.51) and Mario Perez (19.61) to contend with. Perez split 18.85 on GCU’s conference 200 medley relay last year and could be the biggest challenger to Ostrowski’s NCAA chances.
Big West Results from Last Year:
UCSB– 773.5 Hawai’i – 673 Cal Poly – 603 UC San Diego – 513 CSUB – 380Swam Predictions:
Hawai’i may have a slight weakness on breaststroke this year, but with a superb 1-2 punch in the sprint free and Karol Ostrowski to lead the relays they should have too much for UCSB. The diving points will mask the battle in the pool, but at a conference level diving points can be key, and will prove to be so this year.
That will be the case in the battle for 3rd as well, with Grand Canyon likely riding their top-seeded relays and star swimmer Alex Volkov, reigning Big West Swimmer of the Week, to edge ahead of UC San Diego.
Hawaii UCSB GCU UC San Diego CSUB Seattle UNCAA Automatic Qualifiers Watch (Based On Season Bests):
50 free (19.43) – Karol Ostrowski (Hawai’i), 19.26; Guillermo Carrey (GCU), 19.51
100 free (42.55) – Finn Brophy (Hawai’i), 42.26
100 fly (46.11) – Hunter Cehelnik (UCSD), 46.40; Zac Tasmusiatis (UCSB), 46.51
200 fly (1:57.11) – Samantha Banos (UCSB) – 1:56.14
100 back (46.29) – Alex Volkov (GCU) – 45.90
Read the full story on SwimSwam: 2026 Big West Fan Guide: Hawai’i To Count On Diving to Return To The Top
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