Dec. 29, 2017
For San Jose State University Athletics, 2017 was another year on accomplishments and accolades athletically, academically and in the community.
Coaches, alums and staff members all had a hand in the success of the year.
See if how many of your favorite moments are in this list.
The 20 Spartan teams show off four championship trophies.
February 4 (Men's basketball) -- San Jose State wins for the first time at the University of New Mexico's home court, "The Pit."
February 4 (Women's basketball) -- Guard Dezz Ramos became the 16th San Jose State women's basketball player to score 1,000 points for the Spartans. She reached the milestone in her 51st game -- the fewest needed by a Spartan. Ramos would go on to earn All-Mountain West honors and finish fourth nationally in scoring at 23.5 points per game.
February 26 (Swimming) -- On the same day, Brenna Bushey and Colleen Humel set school records at the Pac-12 Invitational. Bushey became the new record holder in the 100 butterfly and Humel achieved the same in the 100 backstroke.
March 18 (Softball) -- Katelyn Linford pitches the 12th no-hitter in San Jose State history in an 8-0 conference win over Nevada. Linford's no-hitter is the first by a Spartan since the 2005 season.
March 19 (Gymnastics) -- San Jose State wins the 2017 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship with a school-record tying total of 195.625. Taylor Chan would be named the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's Freshman of the Year and Shella Martinez is the conference's Assistant Coach of the Year.
March 30 (Women's water polo) -- Goalkeeper Sara Northam is named a winner of the Mountain West Community Service Award. Northam organized clothing, food and toiletry drives in her role as the SJSU Student-Athlete Advisory Council vice-president.
March 31 (Tennis) -- Marie Klocker becomes the new San Jose State career leader in singles and doubles victories. She would finish her career with 142 wins and become only the second Mountain West player to earn eight all-conference honors in women's tennis.
April 6 (Football) -- Wide receiver Tim Crawley is the national runner-up for Male Student-Athlete of the Year for the 25th anniversary of the Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sports Scholars program published by Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Twenty-five Spartans are honored - most in the Pacific Time Zone again.
April 8 (Football) -- The first truly viral San Jose State University Athletics video is recorded after a intra-squad scrimmage and features new running backs coach Alonzo Carter.
April 9 (Beach volleyball) -- San Jose State defeated #18-ranked California, 3-2, the third time in the last two seasons the Spartans beat a nationally-ranked Golden Bears squad.
April 10 (Baseball) -- Pitcher Matt Brown becomes the first Spartan to be named a Mountain West Baseball Player of the Week for allowing just one hit over seven innings in a 2-1 win over conference leader New Mexico.
April 27 (Women's golf) -- Senior My Leander is named the Mountain West Women's Golfer of the Year and John Dormann is the conference's Coach of the Year.
April 30 (Tennis) -- San Jose State defeats host and defending champion UNLV for the 2017 Mountain West championship. The Spartans win their second conference championship in five seasons and first as a Mountain West member. Chad Skorupka would be named Mountain West Coach of the Year.
May 12 (Softball) -- San Jose State clinched its first Mountain West Softball Championship. The Spartans would go on to win one game in the NCAA Tournament.
May 12 (Track & field) -- Freshman Destiny Longmire wins the 2017 Mountain West Women's Outdoor Long Jump. She would go on to place 12th at the USA Track and Field Junior Championships in June and set a school record in the indoor long jump in December.
June 16 (Women's water polo) -- A record-number 14 Spartans were named to the 2017 Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches All-Academic team. That number was one more than 2015 and 2016 combined.
June 19 (Softball) -- Katelyn Linford becomes the first San Jose State pitcher and the fourth Spartan softball player overall to earn All-America honors as a 2017 Fastpitch News NCAA Division I honorable mention All-American.
August 7 (Men's basketball) -- Jean Prioleau is named head coach replacing Dave Wojcik who resigned on July 10.
September 26 (Football) -- The notoriety of running backs coach Alonzo Carter's former life as the choreographer for MC Hammer makes The Ellen Show.
October 10 (Men's golf) -- For the third time in San Jose State history, a San Jose State men's golfer posts a sub-200 score for 54 holes when junior Kevin Velo posts rounds of 65-65-69 for a 199 and a second-place tie at the Alister Mackenzie Invitational in Fairfax, Calif. Velo finished the fall season tied for 38th nationally in stroke average at 69.92.
October 22 (Women's soccer) -- San Jose State wins the Mountain West regular season championship with a 3-1 win over Air Force.
October 30 (Women's soccer) -- San Jose State head coach Lauren Hanson is named the Mountain West Coach of the Year; freshman Jamilecxth Becerra, Newcomer of the Year; and Darriell Franklin, Defensive Player of the Year.
November 5 (Swimming & diving) -- Diver Cari Reiswig breaks her own school record in the 1-meter dive during the dual meet victory over UC Santa Cruz. Reiswig is at the top of the San Jose State career lists in all three diving events.
November 10 (Men's soccer) -- San Jose State beats #12-Air Force, 1-0, for its seventh shutout win of the season and the right to play for the Western Athletic Conference championship.
November 10 (Women's cross country) -- San Jose State had a program best eighth place finish out of 36 teams at the NCAA West Regional Championships. The Spartans also finished fourth, another program best, at the Mountain West Championships.
November 11 (Volleyball) -- San Jose State's best season in years is highlighted by a 3-2 comeback win over #19-ranked Colorado State in the Spartan Gym. The Spartans finished with a 17-11 overall record and tied for fourth place in the Mountain West with a 9-8 win-loss mark.
November 25 (Football) -- San Jose State concludes its first season with Brent Brennan as head coach with a 20-17 win over Famous Idaho Potato Bowl champion Wyoming.
December 15 (Men's water polo) -- Freshman Jacob Mercep, the Golden Coast Conference's leading scorer with 93 goals, is named an honorable mention All-American for the Spartans which finished 12th in the final national coaches' poll. It was the highest national ranking for San Jose State since the program was reinstated in 2015.
Fund raising leads to new facilities and facility enhancement
May 11 (Baseball) -- The Charles A. Becker Foundation pledges $120,000 towards the capital campaign for baseball.
May 31 (Men's & women's golf) -- The Spartan Golf Complex at South Campus has its ribbon-cutting ceremony.
October 17 (Softball) -- The softball team receives a gift of nearly $450,000 from an anonymous donor for the on-campus Spartan Softball Stadium project.
October 18 (Swimming & diving & water polo) -- San Jose State University celebrated the placing of the "top beam" on the new Spartan Recreation and Aquatic Center on the main campus. Scheduled to open in 2019, the facility will be new home for the swimming and diving and men's and women's water polo teams.
December 1 (Tennis) -- San Jose State celebrated the opening of the Spartan Tennis Complex at the South Campus.
Notables - alumni achievement, more academic success and new leadership
January 24 -- San Jose State launches the Institute for the Study of Sport, Society and Social Change. Speakers included Dr. Harry Edwards (Class of '64), NBA greats Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Chris Webber, NFL icon Jim Brown, Olympic Games gold medal winner Tommie Smith (Class of '69) and ESPN's The Undefeated senior writer Marc Spears (Class of '95).
April 6 -- San Jose State University Athletics and adidas announce a six-year partnership for all 20 sports programs.
April 14 -- Dr. Stacey Johnson, a 1980 U.S. Olympics fencing team member, is named as San Jose State's first inductee into the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) Academic All-America Hall of Fame. Dr. Johnson is the President of Valencia College in Orlando, Fla.
May 3 -- The men's cross country, women's basketball, women's golf, gymnastics and women's water polo teams are honored with a NCAA Public Recognition Award for the maximum Academic Progress Rate score of 1,000. The five programs named is a department high for San Jose State University Athletics.
May 19 -- Marie Tuite is named director of athletics replacing Gene Bleymaier, who was named a special advisor to San Jose State University President Dr. Mary A. Papazian in February 2017.
May 20 -- Former San Jose State wrestling coach Hugh Mumby was inducted to the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.
June 13 -- Former San Jose State football offensive tackle David Quessenberry is named the winner of the 2017 George Halas Award. Quessenberry would play in his first NFL game on December 25 after a three-year battle against Hodgkins Lymphoma.
June 23 -- For the ninth consecutive semester, the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) honored San Jose State for its overall academic excellence.
July 18 -- A record number 51 Spartans were named Mountain West Scholar-Athletes for 2016-17. A 3.5 cumulative grade-point average is the academic criteria.
August 21 -- For the second time in three calendar years, San Jose State golf greats Juli Inkster and Pat Hurst serve as captain and assistant captain for the victorious United States team in the Solheim Cup.
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