On November 7, the UC San Diego Dancesport Team attended the annual UC Santa Barbara Beach Ball. The competition started with the American Smooth category. In the Bronze Foxtrot, Viet Nguyen and partner Katrina Kennedy placed 7th, while Simon Huang and Maris Doherty placed 5th. Navid Roueenfar and partner Kim Ng placed 6th in the Bronze Viennese Waltz. Simon and Maris also placed 3rd in the bronze Viennese Waltz, 7th in the Bronze Tango, and third in the overall American Smooth category. Next, Kevin Ray and partner Rachel Eisenbarth had an incredible performance, placing 4th overall in Gold Smooth category, 5th in the Silver Tango and Waltz, 2nd in Silver Viennese Waltz and Foxtrot. They also placed 3rd overall in the Silver Smooth category.

In the Newcomer category, couple Navid Roueenfar and Katrina Kennedy placed 2nd in the Newcomer Waltz and 5th in the Newcomer Tango. Also, couple Simon and Maris placed 1st in the Newcomer Foxtrot and 3rd in the Newcomer Tango, winning 3rd overall in Newcomer American Smooth.

Moving on, in the American Rhythm category, Kevin and Rachel placed 2nd in the Bronze Standard Viennese Waltz, 2nd in the Silver Standard Viennese Waltz, 3rd in the Bronze Quickstep, 5th in the Bronze Standard Waltz, 1st in the Silver and Bronze Bolero.

In the American Rhythm category, couple Fernando Cortez and Kaya Ishijima placed 2nd in the Silver East Coast Swing and 3rd in the Gold East Coast Swing. Next, couple Kevin Ray and Maris Doherty placed 2nd in the Bronze Mambo, 2nd in the Bronze American Cha Cha, 2nd in the Silver American Rumba, 2nd in the Silver American Cha Cha, 3rd in the Bronze American Rumba, and 4th in the Silver East Coast Swing. All of these placements led them to winning 1st overall in the Bronze Rhythm category and 2nd overall in the Silver Rhythm category.

The bulk of the team’s awards were won during the International Latin events. Couple Viet Nguyen and Katrina Kennedy placed 2nd in the Bronze Cha Cha, 1st in the Bronze Samba, 3rd in the Bronze Jive, 1st in the Bronze Paso, and 3rd overall in the Bronze Latin category. Joan Valls and partner Maris Doherty placed 2nd in the Newcomer Samba, 2nd in the Newcomer Rumba, and 2nd in the Newcomer Cha Cha, winning 2nd in the overall Newcomer Latin category. Couple Navid Roueenfar and Katrina Kennedy also competed in the Newcomer Latin, winning 1st in the Newcomer Cha Cha, Rumba, and Samba, leading to a 1st place victory in the overall Newcomer Latin category. Navid also competed in the Bronze category with partner Kim Ng, placing 5th in the Bronze Cha Cha, 4th in the Bronze Rumba, and 3rd in the Bronze Samba. Last, couple Fernando Cortez and Kaya Ishijima placed 4th in the Silver Cha Cha and 5th in the Silver Rumba.

The last events of the competition were the Nightclub events. In the Begginer category, Fernando and Kaya placed 5th in the Merengue, 1st in the Hustle, 3rd in the West Coast Swing, and 1st in the Nightclub Two Step. Also, Fernando and Kim Ng placed 2nd in the Lindy Hop. Joan Valls and Rachel Eisenbarth placed 3rd in the Merengue. Last, couple Viet Nguyen and Katrina Kennedy placed 5th in the Salsa.