SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Senior center-defender Abigail Benavidez captured her third straight USA Water Polo Academic All-America award, as the national organization rolled out its 2023-24 honor roll Wednesday. The full national list appears on the USAWP website and in an upcoming issue of Skip Shot magazine.

Better known under her nickname "Ash," the 2023 All-Delta League and team Offensive MVP leads the Troubadours with 50 goals in 20 games thus far in 2024, and recently surpassed the century mark in career goals. She also has 14 assists and 40 steals, while her shooting percentage is up 33 points to .521 this season (including five-meter penalty shots). Benavidez tallied 59 goals and 25 assists for 84 total points last year.

To qualify for the award, a student-athlete must compile a cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 or better (on a 4.0 scale) during the relevant school year, and hold current USAWP Gold athlete status. The 2023-24 national list includes 1,647 honorees as of Monday's release, although that number historically increases as late honorees are added.

St. Francis heads into the final weeks of its first year in the Sierra Foothill League. The Troubadours are 14-6 entering Wednesday night's game against Whitney, and rank fifth in the Sac-Joaquin Section by MaxPreps. They trail only Granite Bay, Merced, Davis and El Capitan on that leaderboard.

SF takes on Whitney for its penultimate regular-season home game on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Benavidez will be one of seven seniors honored prior to Monday's SFL game against Del Oro.