As the Big West’s first swim and dive season since being reintroduced comes to a close, Cal Poly looks primed to make a surprise run at the Big West Championships held in Houston, Texas, from Feb. 12-15.

The Mustangs men’s team just wrapped up their first undefeated dual meet season in program history, seeing unprecedented success in their first year after leaving the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

In last year’s MPSF Championships, the men’s team finished fourth with 471 total points, and the women sixth with 245.

This year, under the guidance of new interim co-head coaches Kim Foster Carlson and Traci Granger, the Mustangs soared up the Swimcloud rankings behind the continued rise of junior Drew Huston and junior newcomer Evan Yoo.

“This group of kids is so phenomenal,” diving head coach Laurel Abernethy said. “They’re just this big family that encourages each other, pushes each other and complements each other.”

This year’s tournament will not be easy, as, despite the men’s undefeated finish, the program lands third in Big West team rankings heading into the event.

Top-ranked championship favorite UC Santa Barbara and second-ranked Hawaii, last year’s winner in both men’s and women’s competition, figure to be stiff competition for the Mustangs.

The last time that the Big West held a swim and dive championship was back in 2010 when UC Davis swept the event and Cal Poly finished third in both men’s and women’s competitions.

Who to watch for in the competition

In his first year at Cal Poly, Yoo broke onto the Big West scene as one of the best swimmers the Mustangs have had in recent memory.

The Army transfer finished this season with back-to-back Big West Swimmer of the Week awards and won every event he competed in for over three straight meets to end the year.

He set the program records for 100- and 200-yard breaststroke and in the 200-yard inter-medley just this season and is currently ranked as the second-best swimmer in the conference and 14th best in Division 1 Mid-Major programs.

Huston was the Mustang’s breakout performer last season, and he has continued to dominate as the rest of the team improves around him.

He is the program record holder for 100- and 200-yard backstroke and is second in 200-yard inter-medley.

Huston and Yoo were part of the medley relay team that continued to set and reset their program records in the season’s 200- and 400-yard races.

“For all the guys on the team, [the competition in practice] is good natured and good spirited but that’s good for motivation,” Granger said.

If healthy, sophomore Justin Dolezal will be a key men’s diver to watch in this year’s events.

He has been dealing with nagging injuries through the latter half of the season. Still, in his first year last season, he set the program record at the MPSF Diving Championships for the highest finish by a diver in a conference championship, taking third overall.

“I’m hoping he can win a conference championship,” Abernethy said. “If he has a good day, I think he could win this year, but I definitely think he has the chance junior or senior year.”

On the women’s side, sophomores Olivia Sundgren and Amalie Claus-Urdabe have stood out from the competition as the one and two-ranked swimmers for Cal Poly this season.

Claus-Urdabe set top-five times this season in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events.

The two are among the strong classes of sophomore and junior swimmers who have propelled the team forward over the last two seasons and figure to give the Mustangs a shot at the Big West title for the first time in 15 years.