With the 2023-2024 academic year coming to a close, it’s time to revisit the year for Cal Poly sports as a whole.
It’s been one of the most successful recent years in Cal Poly athletics history. According to Cal Poly Athletics, the Mustangs had 129 student-athletes receive All-Conference honors, 14 individuals receive major conference awards and seven coaches earned Coach of the Year honors. Additionally, the school won 16 individual and team titles.
The Mustang News Sports staff assembled a list of the ten best moments in Cal Poly athletics from this past year.
1. Cal Poly finishes first place in The Dennis Farrell Big West Commissioner’s Cup — Matthew Ho
For the first time in Cal Poly history, the Mustangs finished first in The Dennis Farell Big West Commissioner’s Cup. The award is given to the Big West institution with the most success in all men’s and women’s sports conference-sponsored sports.
Every placement in a sport is awarded a point total. The total points for each institution are added up and divided by the number of Big West sports each school has.
The Mustangs finished with an average of 149.4 points, which is a record for total points scored in a year. Long Beach State finished in second with 130.6 points. The school securing first place signifies the successful year Cal Poly Athletics has had across the board.
2. Beach Volleyball reaches Final Four of NCAA Tournament — Ammar Khan
The 2024 Cal Poly Beach Volleyball team ended its season as the highest-rated Cal Poly team in program history.
The No. 5 Mustangs defeated the No. 4 Florida State Seminoles 3-1 in the quarterfinals to advance to the Final Four. The decisive victory marked the first time in program history that a Cal Poly team advanced to the NCAA Championship Semifinals.
Despite being swept by No. 1 USC, the team’s historic season reached unprecedented heights not only within the program but Cal Poly Athletics as a whole.
3. Men’s and Women’s Cross Country sweep back-to-back Big West Championships — Dylan Allen
This year marked the second consecutive season in which both the men’s and women’s cross country teams won the Big West Championship under the new head coaching duo of Ryan Vanhoy and Michelle Chewens.
The men’s team was led by graduate student Davis Bove and junior Aidan McCarthy, who crossed the finish line in first and second place, with six Mustang runners inside the top 14.
Their highest finisher on the women’s side was redshirt junior Schuyler Gooley, who finished in fourth place.
Even without anybody inside the top three finishers, the women secured the championship with a clutch finish from junior Carissa Buccholz.
4. Men’s and Women’s Track and Field sweep Big West Championship — Oluwalanayo Somotun
Cal Poly Track and Field became the first school in 14 years to sweep both the men’s and women’s Big West Championship.
In their first-ever hosting of the event, the Mustangs capped off a phenomenal regular season in which school records were broken and national recognition was earned in multiple events.
On the men’s side, Cal Poly swept all top three podium finishes in the distance events on their way to their first-ever men’s Big West title.
On the women’s side, sophomore Tatiana Cornejo and junior Melody Nwagwu’s victorious finishes in multiple events helped them earn their second-ever Big West Title.
Fourteen Cal Poly athletes would earn a bid to the NCAA West Preliminaries. Although none advanced to the NCAA Championships, the season was one that Big West Coach of the Year Ryan Vanhoy has to be proud of.
5. Cal Poly Women’s Tennis wins second-ever Big West Tournament — Jack Bynum
For only the second time in program history, the team won the Big West Tournament and moved on to play No. 3 USC in the NCAA Tournament.
The team rallied together at the end of the season to dominate the Big West Tournament to send off their seniors with a championship.
Graduate Melissa LaMette and fifth-year Delanie Dunkle left the school as champions in their last year with Cal Poly. They both rank at the top of the program’s record books for singles and doubles victories.
Coach Ellie Eldes Williams was awarded the Big West Coach of the Year for leading the Mustangs on the championship journey.
6. Jessica Clements wins Big West softball player of the year — Oliver Marburg
Redshirt sophomore Jessica Clements took home Big West Player of the Year honors, a fitting conclusion to a stellar season from the Mustang center fielder.
Clements finished fourth in the nation in batting average, boasting .464 average. Through April 12, Clements had a batting average of .500, picking up a base hit in half of her at-bats, which was good for first in the NCAA Division I.
Batting leadoff and playing center field, Clements led the way for the Mustangs in their first winning season since 2017 and a top-three finish in the Big West conference.
Clements is the first Cal Poly softball player to win Big West Player of the Year since Sierra Hyland in 2010.
7. Joe Yorke breaks Cal Poly career RBI record — Sergio Romero
The season’s highlight for Cal Poly Baseball happened when fan favorite and senior first baseman Joe Yorke broke the program’s career RBI record.
Yorke broke the 25-year-long record on Sunday, April 7 in an 8-3 road win against Big West Conference rival UC Riverside with a two-RBI single up the middle.
Yorke passed former Mustang Steve Woods’ 160 RBI total to break the record.
Yorke finished his senior season and four-year Cal Poly career with 176 total RBIs, firmly etching his name at the top of Cal Poly’s record books.
8. Kobe Sanders surpasses 1,000 point mark — Charlie Wiltsee
In his final game as a Mustang, senior guard on Cal Poly Men’s Basketball Kobe Sanders joined rare company. Sanders became the 26th Mustang in program history to reach 1,000 career points.
Sanders finished 25th on the all-time scoring list with 1,008 career points.
Sanders saw improvement in nearly every statistical category compared to his previous three seasons at Cal Poly. He finished the record-setting final game with 30 points, which he accomplished seven times over his senior season.
Sanders announced that he would be transferring to the University of Nevada for his final year of college eligibility in the 2024-25 season, but his achievements as a Mustang were truly outstanding.
9. Cal Poly Women’s Basketball reaches Women’s National Invitational Tournament — Ryan Giacomini
The Women’s Basketball Team made their fourth-ever Women’s National Invitational Tournament this season.
Without their star player Natalia Ackerman, who led the Big West in blocks and field goal percentage, the rest of the team would have to step up.
The Mustangs would get key contributions from a pair of freshmen, Mary Carter and Jordan Hoffman but would fall short to University of Pacific.
In just two seasons, the program has seen dramatic improvement under head coach Shanele Stires. Reaching the WNIT is another step in the right direction.
10. Adam Kemp wins PAC-12 individual title — Sergio Romero
Graduate student Adam Kemp took home his first 174-pound title in the PAC-12 tournament.
The No. 9 ranked wrestler in his weight class was the only Mustang to take home a title in the tournament but was one of five total wrestlers to qualify for the NCAA Championships.
Kemp battled an injury all season but managed to take down Arizona State’s Cael Valencia to take home the 174-pound title.
Kemp came out of the tournament with a 16-3 overall record before advancing as far as Day 2 of the NCAA Tournament.
Kemp faced tough competition but held his own against the likes of three-time All-American Carter Starocci of Penn State.
Honorable Mention: Cal Poly Volleyball secures five wins by reverse sweeps — Ty Soria
Cal Poly Volleyball earned the name “Cardiac ‘Stangs” this year after recording five reverse sweeps throughout the season, including the postseason.
The Mustangs played exceptionally well in the fifth set, going 10-2 in games that went to five sets this season.
Cal Poly played in the first-ever Big West Tournament for women’s indoor volleyball, which took place at the Walter Pyramid at Long Beach State.
In round one, the Mustangs made their miraculous fifth reverse sweep of the season against UC Davis.
The Mustangs didn’t hit their stride until about halfway through the third set. The attackers mixed up their hits and the back row figured out how to defend against Davis’s tricky jump spin serves.
Once again, they took the game to five sets and successfully won the reverse sweep, 15-13, in the final set.