SAN JOSE, Calif. - It was a banner year for the San José State University athletics department in 2023 and that did not go unnoticed in the Silicon Valley. The Spartans were recognized by Mercury News and Bay Area News Group readers as the Best College Sports Team in the publication’s annual Best of the Silicon Valley awards.
The Spartans recorded a top-100 finish in the LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup Standings, the second-highest finish in school history. In the classroom a school-record 91 student-athletes were named to the Mountain West Scholar Team (3.5 GPA or higher). San José State earned its second consecutive Mountain West Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Community Service Award with more than 10,000 hours of community service.
The year began with the men’s basketball program claiming its first Mountain West Tournament victory as well as the first postseason triumph. SJSU was 1-of-31 schools to have baseball, men’s basketball and football make the postseason. MW Player of the Year Omari Moore signed with the Milwaukee Bucks.
More Spartans earned their way into the professional ranks. Junior Fehoko was a fourth-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys, Elijah Cooks signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Charles McAdoo was a 13th-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Beau Leroux was a second-round draft pick by the San José Earthquakes.
Track & Field’s Emilia Sjostrand doubled up on All-America honors. She became SJSU’s first women’s track and field All-American with a seventh-place finish in the triple jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships and a seventh-place finish in the long jump at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Also finding success at the national level was the women’s golf team as the Spartans placed 16th at the NCAA Championships. Lucia Lopez Ortega was the NCAA Runner-up while Kajsa Arwefjäll finished 18th.
The spring wrapped up with the baseball team winning its first Mountain West regular season and tournament championships. The men’s water polo got the fall started with a title as they captured the inaugural West Coast Conference tournament championship.
A six-game winning streak propelled the football team to a share of the Mountain West regular season championship and a third bowl appearance in four years, the best stretch in program history. Included in that run was a 42-18 win over No. 25 Fresno State to bring the Valley Trophy back to San Jose.
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