MPSF Hosts Fourth Open Water Championship, GOLS to Stream
Photo by: Karina Toriz
2026 Open Registration
2026 MPSF Championship Central
2026 MPSF Open Water Live Stream (GOLS)
For the fourth consecutive year, the MPSF will contest a one-day open water swimming championship on Saturday, October 17, 2026 at Marine Stadium in Long Beach, California. This year’s field is scheduled to feature Augustana (IL), Biola, BYU, Cal Baptist, Chapman, Grand Canyon, Idaho, Northern Colorado, Puget Sound, Quincy, San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, USC, Washington State, Westmont, and Whittier. The Vikings, Loggers, and Trojans will be first-time participants in the event. The CBU men have won the last two titles, while the women of Rice University brought it home in 2025. The MPSF held the nation’s first open water intercollegiate conference championship in 2023.
“We are very excited to host the fourth MPSF Open Water Swimming Championship,” said MPSF Associate Commissioner for Championships Kaia Hedlund. “We have 16 schools participating from seven different states. We have over 50 volunteers and expect a lot of spectators with Long Beach being the Aquatic Capital of America.”
The collegiate championship meet will feature four events, beginning at 9:00 am with the Men’s 5-Kilometer race. The Women’s 5K will follow at 10:30 am. The collegiate events resume in the afternoon with the men’s and women’s 2,000-meter relay events at 1:45 pm and 2:15 pm, respectively. The relays will consist of four competitors per team, each swimming 500 meters.
Team scoring in the collegiate events will be made up of results achieved in both the 5K and relay events. The top-three individuals and top relay team from each institution will contribute to their team score. Additionally, the top-three collegiate swimmers in the men’s and women’s 5K races will automatically qualify for the 5K USA Swimming Open Water National Championship as well as the CSCAA Nationals in December.
In between the collegiate 5K and relay events, an Open 5K and 1K race for swimmers 11 and over in age will take place at 12:00 pm and 12:05 pm, respectively. Junior College, NAIA, Collegiate Club, and Alumni Club swimmers are encouraged to participate. Interested swimmers for the Open events are asked to sign up through the following link:
Open 5K and 1K
For the collegiate races, 133 swimmers are expected to compete, 86 for the women and 47 for the men. The top returner to this year’s men’s collegiate 5K is Whittier’s Thomas Langlois, who is attempting a three-peat after posting the 2025 (59:06.41) and 2024 (59:26) individual titles. Langlois also competed in the first-ever MPSF Open Water Championship in 2023, when he finished fourth. Grand Canyon’s Batu Servi also returns, after bringing home the bronze in both 2025 (59:07.67) and 2024 (59:34). On the women’s side, CBU’s Kai Flanagan is one of the top returnees. She has posted a pair of top-10 swims in the 5K race the last two years, including a second-place swim in 2024 (1:05.41). Washington State’s Tatum Janning returns to the 5K after a sixth-place finish (1:03.36) out of 77 swimmers in 2025. She was also a member of the Cougars’ second-place 2000-meter relay. GCU’s Vivi Criscione is back in the field, previously highlighted by a third-place 2024 swim.
There are over 140 swimmers registered for the 5K and 1K Open swims, ranging in age from 11 to 80, who will represent clubs from Clovis, Max Aquatics, San Clemente Aquatics, Sandpipers of Nevada, and Team Santa Monica. Amongst the Open competitors is 2026 three-event USA Open Water National Champion Ivan Puskovitch, who swept each of the Gold Medals in Sarasota, FL (10K, 3K, 5K). Puskovitch finished 14th in the 10K at the 2024 World Championships to become just the fifth American ever to earn a spot in any of the Olympic Games (Paris, 2024). Dylan Gravley is also in the Open field, owning three top-seven USA Swimming National Championship results in the last five years. Competing in the Open 1K will be 80-year-old Mary Schade, who has raced the Alcatraz Escape, numerous triathlons, and most recently, the Pasadena and San Diego Senior Games. “I’m excited for this new experience and hope to continue swimming well into my 90s,” said Schade. Also in the field will be the father-son duo of 75-year-old John McMullen and Jon McMullen, the younger of which recently swam the Catalina Channel. Eighteen-year-old defending 5K champion Max Spory is returning to this year’s race, while 14-year-old Victoria Ruge is back after a top-five 1K finish (No. 2 female) in 2025.
Open Water Swimming has been in the Olympics since 2008. Alumni from institutions invited to the MPSF Championship have participated in each of these Olympic Games and have medaled in both the men’s and women’s events. Marine Stadium, which hosted the Pan-Pacific 10K’s this past summer, will also serve as the host for rowing and sprint canoe at the 2028 Olympic Games. The city of Long Beach will also host open water swimming, water polo, and sailing events in the 34th Olympiad.
Game On Live Studio (GOLS) will provide live video stream coverage of the full day’s event. Fans can access the MPSF Championships through a pay-per-view option found on the GOLS’ MPSF Championship event page (
https://gols.co/2026-mpsf-open-water-championships/). More Information about GOLS Live Streaming can be found on its website
https://gols.co and on social media @gameonls.
Malmsten, Speedo, Southern Pacific Masters Swimming, and Port of Long Beach, and The Swim Guy will sponsor the 2026 MPSF Open Water Championship. Malmsten, which also provides the equipment and lane lines for the Olympics in swimming and water polo, will provide the MPSF Championship buoys and course setup.
MPSF Open Water Swimming Championship information, including Marine Stadium details, registration links, results, and live stream coverage are housed on the
conference website’s championship central page.