Arroyo, Acosta Earn Top Honors As Men’s Water Polo All-Big West Awards Announced
Freshman Gabi Acosta was awarded Big West Player of the Year while Head Coach Gavin Arroyo was named the conference Coach of the Year for the sixth time in his career.
By: Luiza Moraes - Athletics Communication Assistant
LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Big West announced the 2024 Men's Water Polo All-Conference awards on Friday afternoon with Long Beach State leading the selections with freshman Gabi Acosta earning both Player and Freshman of the year and head coach Gavin Arroyo named Coach of the Year. In total the Beach had seven players selected for the conference honors.
Freshman Gabi Acosta took home Player and Freshman of the Year for the conference after a fantastic first season for the Beach. Acosta was also named to the First Team All-Big West along with seniors Evan Cain, Bruno Chiappini and Aaron Wilson. Sophomore Caleb Francisco earned his first conference honors being the fifth Long Beach State player selected to the team. Francisco improved from the past season to be an impactful player, leading the team in goals at the Big West Championships.
Head coach Gavin Arroyo was named Coach of the Year by the conference for the first time since 2021. Coach Arroyo came from a busy summer with Team USA after winning bronze at the Paris Olympic Games as the team assistant coach. This is the sixth time coach Arroyo has been named Coach of the Year in his career at the Beach.
The Beach also led the All-Freshman team with Acosta, Kostantinos Kapragkos and Corbin Stanley being named to the team. Stanley was also awarded Honorable Mentions for his spectacular first season at the Beach. Kapragkos had an impressive Big West Championships recording a hat trick on the final against No. 11 UC San Diego.
No. 6 Long Beach State (20-10) prepares for the first round of the NCAA Championships against No. 1 Fordham (31-0) on December 6th at 6 p.m. at the Avery Aquatics Center in Stanford, Calif. The match will be livestream on NCAA.com and live stats can be followed on 6-8sports.com/scores.
