CAL POLY ATHLETICS DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL
MUSTANG HEAD COACHES
SOFIE AAGAARD Women’s Golf Third Year
JON SIOREDAS Wrestling Second Year
JOE CALLERO Men’s Basketball Ninth Year
NICK CARLESS Men’s Tennis Seventh Year
SCOTT CARTWRIGHT Men’s Golf 17th Year
JENNY CONDON Softball 14th Year
MARK CONOVER Director of Track Ninth Year Cross Country 20th Year
SAM CROSSON Women’s Volleyball Sixth Year
ALEX CROZIER Women’s Soccer 26th Year
LARRY LEE Baseball 16th Year
TODD ROGERS Beach Volleyball Third Year
STEVE SAMPSON Men’s Soccer Third Year
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TOM MILICH FAITH MIMNAUGH Men’s and Women’s Women’s Basketball Swimming and Diving 21st Year 12th Year
TIM WALSH Football Ninth Year
KATHRIN WINTERHALTER Women’s Tennis Third Year
MUSTANGS EXCEL IN THE CLASSROOM
or more than 100 years, Cal Poly’s student-athletes have been dedicated to excellence in both the athletic and academic arenas. During the 2016-17 scholastic year alone, 113 Mustangs were named to all-conference academic teams. Since Cal Poly transitioned to the Division I level in 1994, the school has enjoyed 1,083 total all-conference academic selections – an average of over 47 per year. Taking pride in each student’s ability to excel both athletically and intellectually, Cal Poly and the athletics department offer guidance and support to each student-athlete during his or her tenure. To support these motives, the athletics department initiated the Academic Resource Center.
Opened in 2001, the center provides yearround academic support, tutoring, workshops and academic advising. Remodeled in the summer of 2017, the center has also developed study hall programs with biquarterly progress checks, weekly academic appointments and a first-year seminar class for incoming student-athletes. In deference to the student-athlete’s need for class schedule flexibility, Cal Poly also offers in-season priority registration for two of the three quarters during which competition occurs. Of the 64 major courses offered at Cal Poly, Mustang student-athletes were enrolled in 52 separate areas, as of the Fall 2016 term.
ATHLETIC EXCELLENCE
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Featuring 21 varsity programs, the Cal Poly Athletics Department is in its 24th year of NCAA Division I competition since completing reclassification in 1994. With the exception of football (Big Sky Conference), wrestling (Pac-12 Conference) and the men’s and women’s swimming and indoor track and field programs (Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), Cal Poly is also in its 22nd year as a member of the Big West Conference. Among Big West institutions, only UC Davis (22 programs) boasts more athletic disciplines than Cal Poly. Prior to transitioning to the Division I level, Cal Poly ranked as the most successful institution in the history of NCAA Division II athletics with 35 national team titles. Cal Poly has continued its winning tradition at the top flight with teams and individuals routinely earning conference championships and NCAA Tournament berths. During the 2013-14 academic year, the athletics department -- which added beach volleyball in 2014 -saw the men’s basketball, men’s tennis and baseball programs advance to the NCAA Championships. Individually during the 2016-17 academic year, Joe Protheroe and Matt Fisher (football), Spencer Howard (baseball), Peyton Bilo (track and field) and Sierra Hyland (softball) earned All-America honors during the 2016-17 academic year. Bradlee Beesley earned freshman All-American honors. Howard (second round) and fellow pitcher Erich Uelmen (fourth round) were selected in the MLB Draft in June 2017 while Hyland was the No. 4 overall pick in the National Pro Fastpitch draft. Named Big West athletes of the year were Bilo (women’s cross country), Clayton Hutchins (men’s cross country) and Hyland (softball pitcher of the year). As testament to Cal Poly’s athletics and academic integrity, 113 Mustangs collected conference all-academic praise during the 2016-17 school year. The Cal Poly Athletics Department also finished third in the Big West Commissioner’s Cup, an award presented to the institution with the best overall results in the conference’s 16 sponsored sports. Cal Poly athletes have consistently excelled outside the bounds of the collegiate arena. Cal Poly was represented at the 2008 Summer Olympics by former Mustangs Sharon Day (United States, high jump), Jimmy Van Ostrand (Canada, baseball) and Stephanie Brown Trafton, whose gold medal for the United States in the discus competition was the first such feat by a Mustang athlete. Day (heptathlon) and Brown Trafton (discus) also qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London while wrestler Boris Novachkov earned a spot in the 2016 Summer Games at Rio de Janeiro. Other prominent post-Cal Poly examples include AllAmerican wide receiver Ramses Barden (2005-08), who was a third-round selection by the New York Giants in 2009 and played four years in the NFL. Former linebacker Chris Gocong (2002-05) – one of Cal Poly’s three Buck Buchanan Award winners as the Football Championship Subdivision’s top defensive player – made 35 starts in three active seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles. Linebacker Nick Dzubnar currently is with the San Diego Chargers while defensive lineman Josh Letuligasenoa is battling for a spot on the Green Bay Packers roster. Former men’s soccer midfielder Anton Peterlin is the only Big West player to have appeared in an English Football League match. Three former Mustangs -Junior Burgos (Toronto FC), Patrick McLain (Chivas USA), Kip Colvey (San Jose Earthquakes), George Malki (Houston Dynamo) and Ariel Lassiter (L.A. Galaxy) have played on Major League Soccer clubs. Mackenzie Pridham plays for Minnesota United FC of the North American Soccer League. Lassiter (Team USA) and Kip Colvey (New Zealand) have been named to national under-23 teams. As of August 2017, the Cal Poly baseball program produced seven Major League players in the last eight years with pitchers Casey Fien (Phillies) and Bud Norris (Angels) and outfielder Mitch Haniger (Mariners) on active rosters. Eighteen other Mustangs were active professionally.
Athletics and Academic Excellence • www.gopoly.com