Best of the West Fest '26

The Best of the West meet was a return to a Western Canadian Championship-style competition that was sorely missed last season.

With a revamped format and 600 swimmers, the meet was big, competitive, and fun! UCSC sent 29 swimmers to the meet from 4 groups (National, ND, JND, AND 12B) which helped the team be represented throughout all the age groups. These 29 combined for 68 finals swims and 23 medals (7 Gold, 9 Silver, and 6 Bronze).

One of the great features of our weekend was swimmer-chosen daily award winners. On day 1, two of our older swimmers chose the swimmer who they felt had the swim of the day, and the coaches chose the swimmer who showed the most leadership. From there, those recipients chose the swim and leader of the day for each of the remaining days. It was great to see swimmers recognized by their peers for their efforts both in and out of the pool!

A few swimmers qualified for new meets over the weekend. Alice Zhang (50 & 100 back) and Greta Dove (200 & 800 Free) qualified for the Canadian Swimming Trials for the first time, while Sophia Bullock qualified for the Quebec Grand Prix in the 400 free.

Overall UCSC swimmers had 64 best times over the course of the weekend, and this team effort helped them place 6 th in the team standings. It was a great effort top to bottom over the weekend, and it was a lot of fun to get all of Western Canada back together. We are already looking forward to doing it again next season!