The 2026 West Coast Sevens in Review: Three Series Stops & 113 Games
What a 2026 series! Across three weekends and three California venues, the 2026 West Coast Sevens put 113 games of collegiate and high school sevens on the field, from Los Angeles to Stanford to San Diego. We welcomed new programs from Indiana to Mexico, hosted USA Rugby leadership and current and former Eagles on our sidelines, and ran nearly every game on time, live on TVX Video. Here is how it all played out.
Eight Programs, Twelve Titles
Eight different programs lifted trophies this fall. Cal won the Men's Collegiate Champion Division at all three series stops, Cal 2 took the Los Angeles Challenger title and Cal Poly 2 won the Stanford Challenger final. At Stanford, UC Santa Barbara won the women's college division and Lady Lions Rugby won the high school girls. In San Diego, USD won the Plate and MiraCosta won the Bowl. Carmichael won high school boys in Los Angeles and Stanford before Cathedral Catholic took the San Diego title.
Series Stop 1: Los Angeles Sets the Tone
We opened on Saturday, September 26 at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson with Collegiate Men's and High School Boys divisions, and three programs making their West Coast Sevens debut for 26': Saint Mary's College, Indiana University and Mexico ANUIES.
Cal gave up just 28 points in four games. They beat GCU 24–14 and Long Beach State 36–0 in pool play, Indiana 19–7 in the semifinal, and Saint Mary's 22–7 in the final. Saint Mary's made the final in their very first appearance, edging USD 19–17 and beating Indiana 28–19 and GCU 21–14. Indiana bounced back to beat GCU 35–12 for third, and Long Beach State took fifth with a 28–10 win over USD.
Cal 2 won the Challenger Division without a close game, beating USD 2 32–5, Long Beach State 2 22–0, Mexico ANUIES 36–5 and Saint Mary's College 2 27–5 in the final. ANUIES earned their first win on the tour with a 36–0 result over Claremont College, and USD 2 edged them 22–17 for third.
In the High School Boys pool, Carmichael went 3–0 and outscored opponents 117–21, including a 28–14 win over Cathedral Catholic. It was the first chapter of the best rivalry of the season.
Series Stop 2: Stanford, the Biggest Day of the Year
On Saturday, October 10, Stanford's Steuber Rugby Stadium hosted 40 games in one day at a world-class rugby facility, in front of one of the biggest crowds of our season. USA Rugby CEO Bill Goren joined us on site, and Stanford was the only series stop with girls' high school and women's college divisions.
Cal ran the table again: 39–0 over Saint Mary's College 2, 31–0 over Indiana, 31–19 over Cal Poly in the semifinal and 31–12 over Saint Mary's in the final. Saint Mary's reached a second straight final by beating Cal 2 12–5, Cal Poly 24–7 and Indiana 33–14. Indiana finished third again, beating Cal Poly 29–17, and Cal Poly marked its return to the tour with a 26–19 win over Cal 2.
The Challenger Division delivered the upset of the day when UC Davis knocked out Stanford 31–26 in the semifinal. Cal Poly 2 then held off UC Davis 10–7 in the final, after beating American River 19–14 in the other semi. Stanford regrouped to take third, 22–0 over American River.
UC Santa Barbara won the women's college division after the tightest race of the season, with UCSB, Stanford and Sacramento State all finishing 2–1. UCSB beat Cal 31–5 and Sac State 33–7, Stanford beat UCSB 26–17 and Cal 36–0, and Sac State beat Stanford 19–14 and Cal 20–10. UCSB's Jayna Schalesky also took home the women's Player of the Tournament award.
Lady Lions Rugby won the High School Girls division. They opened with a 43–0 shutout of Bishop O'Dowd and a 38–5 win over Carondelet. Rio Americano pushed them all the way, blanking Carondelet 29–0, beating Bishop O'Dowd 19–12 and edging Lady Lions 16–14 in pool play, one of the best games of the day.
Carmichael went 3–0 again in the High School Boys division, beating St. Ignatius 12–0, Oaks Rugby 36–10 and Cathedral Catholic 19–12. That made them 6–0 heading into the finale. St. Ignatius edged Oaks Rugby 19–17 in another thriller.
Cal's Nate Cominsky was named the men's Player of the Tournament.
Series Stop 3: The San Diego Finale
We closed the season over two days, October 17 and 18, at the SoCal Sports Complex in Oceanside: 45 games, a 12-team college tournament with Cup, Plate and Bowl playoffs, and a six-team High School Boys competition.
USA Men's Sevens head coach Zack Test was on the sideline. So were West Coast Sevens alumni now playing for the USA Sevens, Rand Santos, Lucas Lacamp and Tucker Trickey, along with USA Sevens players Adam Channel and Ryan Santos and former Eagles Perry Baker, Will Hooley and Ryan Matyas.
Cal won its third Champion Division title of the series. They won their pool 47–0 over USD 2, 41–0 over SDSU and 52–0 over MiraCosta, beat Utah 31–17 in the semifinal, and beat Long Beach State 29–15 in the Cup Final. Long Beach State earned that final spot with a 21–17 win over USD and a 15–0 semifinal shutout of Cal Poly. Utah, in its first West Coast Sevens appearance, took third with a 17–7 win over Cal Poly.
USD won the Plate, beating SDSU 2 44–0 and SDSU 22–17 in the final. MiraCosta won the Bowl, beating Claremont 38–5 and USD 2 38–12.
High School Boys was the most popular division of the year, and its last game was the best game of 2026 at any level. Cathedral Catholic had lost to Carmichael 28–14 in Los Angeles and 19–12 at Stanford. In the final high school game of the season, Cathedral won 19–17 to finish San Diego 5–0 and end Carmichael's 10-game unbeaten run. Defending San Diego champions OMBAC finished 3–2, including a 22–19 win over Rancho Bernardo.
Leveling Up in 2026
We pride ourselves on running a high-level, professional event, and this year we raised the bar. Almost every game started on time, and new teams joined the circuit: Indiana University, Mexico ANUIES, University of Utah and Saint Mary's College, plus Cal Poly SLO back in the mix. TVX Video and our broadcast team put every game on the live stream, so players, families and recruiters everywhere could see that level of play for themselves.
Missed It? Watch Every Game on YouTube
Every match from all three series stops can be rewatched on the @westcoastsevens YouTube channel, brought to you by TVX Video.
Highlights- start with Cathedral Catholic and Carmichael in San Diego, Rio Americano and Lady Lions Rugby at Stanford, and UC Davis's semifinal upset of Stanford.
All Live streams HERE
Thank You
None of this happens without the people behind it!
Thank you to our staff and volunteers, the TVX crew and broadcast team. A special thank you to our WC7's staff:
Warren Spieker- Tournament Organizer
Andy Doukas- Tournament Organizer
Abby Baird- Event Operations & Logistics
Sarah Samaniego- Social Media & Marketing
Joe Curtis- Partnerships & Sponsorships
Ramon Samaniego- Teams & Ops
Jeremy Ognall- Lead Broadcast Team
Randal Slisz & Fale Luis- TXV Sports Video
Our partners at Axos Bank, Duds by Dudes, Dignity Health Sports Park, Stanford University and the SoCal Sports Complex for hosting us.
Most of all, thank you to every player, coach, family and fan who came out.
Looking Ahead to 2027
Dates and locations for 2027 are still to come, but the storylines are already here. Will Cathedral Catholic and Carmichael give us a fourth chapter? And how far can Saint Mary's, Indiana and Utah climb in year two? Follow us on Instagram and YouTube for interviews, highlights and the 2027 announcement.
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