Santa Barbara Invite 2026: Tournament Talk (Men’s Div.)

An unexpected final matchup as teams make an early season statement

January 26, 2026 by Edward Stephens in Recap

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Santa Barbara Invite 2026 was a bit of a bizarre affair, or at least it was compared to most people’s expectations for it. #22 Victoria Vikes ran the table to take the tournament crown, breaking #15 Utah Zion Curtain on the final point with a first-throw layout Callahan. That play was nothing less than sensational, of course. But how much stock should we put into UVic’s undefeated weekend?

And what about other staggering results, like Stanford Bloodthirsty’s trip to semis, or #6 Cal Poly SLO SLOCORE’s horrible Sunday?

Absent any other way to judge these teams – it’s so early in the season – the potential to overreact is huge. Nevertheless, react we must. We’ll try to sort through the puzzles of the weekend until they start to make long-term sense – or, at least, we’ll do our best.

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Weekend’s Best: Vikes and Slugs

Hats off to UVic. The Vikes inarguably outdid everyone you could possibly group them with – Canada’s best, the Northwest region’s best, and the tournament’s best – through their undefeated weekend. The positive takeaways are numerous. To begin with, it would appear that star Max Pettenuzzo has now reached the point where he can do whatever he wants, including, apparently, throwing hammers anywhere at any time. Co-star Nyle Lebbell wasn’t far behind, at least on the receiving end. They’re backed up by a cast that appears much deeper than last season: Lochlan Margison has taken a huge step forward for the D-line, and he benefits from the athleticism of players like Desmond Burns and Tasman Millen around him. Those are the two players who made massive defensive plays (Millen had the Callahan game-winner) to put away Utah at the end. Ricky Tran was excellent throughout, and Callahan McCullagh has emerged as a third reliably dynamic player on the O-line.

That said, the team who, at their best, looked like the team with the most potential later this spring are #12 UC Santa Cruz Slugs. That is despite falling to UVic in semis. Maybe this will end up being a poor read on my part, but here’s the way I see it right now: the Slugs were the cleanest, most talented, and best schemed squad in the SBI field. The Saturday impressions largely hold up. Toby Warren has been even better than expected. Selim Jones was a revelation as a thrower this weekend. Milan Moslehi uses his plus-plus speed and quickness to perfection.

But what we saw on Sunday to add to that impression was a dig-in-your-heels stubbornness on defense to pick them up when the O-line hit some trouble. The highlight was an epic goal line stand against #23 Washington Sundodgers in quarters, but they were regularly on top of the competition. On an individual level, Gabriel Schwartz-Ketchner is on track to become one of the top defenders in the country sooner rather than later. With #6 Cal Poly SLO SLOCORE potentially taking a step back after years at the top of the division, the Southwest picture is suddenly looking very rosy for UC Santa Cruz.

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