SAN DIEGO - The 2026 San Diego State water polo team garnered 17 individual academic honors, in addition to a team honor, from the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) for the 2025-26 school year.
The 17 Aztecs who were recognized bring head coach Dana Ochsner’s four-year total to 64, are tied for the third most the program has garnered in a single year, and their 17 individual honors are the third most among the seven teams in the Golden Coast Conference (GCC) this past season.
The ACWPC recognizes individual honorees in three categories: Outstanding (GPAs between 3.71-4.00), Superior (3.41-3.70) and Excellent (3.20-3.40). To qualify, the student-athlete had to have been a member of the team during the 2025-26 school year and competed in at least one contest.
Seniors Hannah Bell and Claudia Valdes, junior Mimi Stoupas and freshmen Natalia Barrot and Ioanna Petiki earned inclusion on the Outstanding Team.
The Superior Team honorees are seniors Tiaare Ahovelo, Sydney Gish, Megan Holcomb, and Aiyana Mendoza, junior Lucy Bullock, sophomore Julianne Stark, and freshmen Poppy Phillips and Avery Sullivan.
Senior Shannon Murphy, junior Sammi Byers and freshmen Mackenzie Dollander and Kyla Pranajaya garnered Excellent Team designation.
Gish, Murphy, Holcomb and Valdes have been recognized by the ACWPC in each of their four years of collegiate water polo. Ahovelo, Bell, Bullock and Stoupas receive the distinction for the third time. Byers, Mendoza and Stark earned their second awards, while Barrot, Dollander, Petiki, Phillips, Pranajaya, and Sullivan picked up their initial honor.
As a team, the Aztecs finished the year with a cumulative GPA of 3.47, among the highest in the nation, and earned team all-academic honors from the ACWPC. It is the ninth year in a row, and the 10th time since 2009, that the Aztec program has been honored by the organization for its work in the classroom.
Earlier this month, San Diego State water polo athletes earned a conference-best 16 Golden Coast Conference (GCC) All-Academic honors. Since the program's inaugural season of 1995, only six other San Diego State water polo teams have earned double-digit conference academic honors in a single year; the 2025 (18), 2024 (19), 2023 (16), 2022 (15), 2021 (16) and the 2019 squad, which garnered 11 GCC All-Academic awards.
Under the guidance of Ochsner, San Diego State finished the 2026 season ranked No. 16 in the final Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) poll. It compiled a 19-10 record, 4-3 in conference play, and finished in third place in the GCC Championship tournament.
2026 Association of College Water Polo Coaches All-Academic Team
San Diego State Individual Honorees
Sydney Gish****
Megan Holcomb****
Shannon Murphy****
Claudia Valdes****
Tiaare Ahovelo***
Hannah Bell***
Lucy Bullock***
Mimi Stoupas***
Sammi Byers**
Aiyana Mendoza**
Julianne Stark**
Natalia Barrot*
Mackenzie Dollander*
Ioanna Petiki*
Poppy Phillips*
Kyla Pranajaya*
Avery Sullivan*
*- career ACWPC All-Academic Team honors