SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – UC Santa Barbara has officially announced their meet schedule for the upcoming 2026 outdoor season. The calendar features 14 regular-season meets during the spring, 13 of which will be held across California, featuring three home meets. Following the regular season, the Gauchos will compete at the Big West Championships and the postseason continues into June with the NCAA West Preliminary Round and the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships.
The season will kick off with two home meets on Pauley Track, featuring the two-day Sam Adams Combined Events on March 5 and 6, followed by the Gaucho Relays on March 7.
The Gauchos will compete in two more meets for the remainder of March, including the Westmont Dual on March 13 to the neighboring Westmont College. Their next stop will be at the Jim Bush Legends Meet, hosted by UCLA on March 28.
On the first weekend of April, UCSB will compete in three separate meets, featuring the Stanford Invite and Mike Fanelli Distance Carnival in the Bay Area, as well as the Triton Invite in San Diego. Each meet will be two days, held on April 3 and 4.
Up next, the UCSB heptathletes and decathletes will take to the track at the Bryan Clay Multi April 9 and 10, overlapping with the Challenge Cup on April 10.
Santa Barbara will be featured in three different meets the following weekend, marking their return to Azusa Pacific from April 16 to 18 for the Bryan Clay Invite. The Guachos will also be seen in action at the Long Beach Invite hosted by Long Beach State April 17 and 18, as well as at the renowned Mt. Sac Relays at Hilmer Lodge Stadium April 16 to 18.
The Gauchos will take to their home track one last time before entering the postseason at the UCSB Invite, the two-day meet being hosted from April 24 to 25. The following weekend, Santa Barbara will travel to the Northeast, where they will compete at the prestigious Penn Relays hosted by the University of Pennsylvania.
UC Santa Barbara's postseason opens up with the Big West Multi Championships held on May 8 to 9 at Anteater Stadium in Irvine, Calif., then the remainder of the championships meet schedule will fill up two action-packed days of competition May 15 and 16 at Long Beach State.
Based on their performance throughout the postseason, the Gauchos have the chance to move on to the NCAA West Prelims hosted by the University of Arkansas, May 27 through 30. The NCAA National Championships will be held June 10 through 13 in Eugene, Ore.
