By Spear staff
Our staff tells you who they believe the best athlete at San Jose State is right now.
Courtney Kreitner (@courtney_sjsu) – Reporter
When I think of the best athlete in a sport, I think of someone who can fill any spot on the team. An all-around athlete that is a team player and a winner. Jada Mazury fits that mold and not only competed in every event in women’s college gymnastics, but also won many of her events and honorable titles.
This season she had a total of five honors, 2022 MPSF All-Around Champion, 2022 MPSF Bars Champion, and 2022 First team All-MPSF Bars, Floor and All-Around just to name a few.
Mazury, originally from Alberta, Canada performs well with a top-level performance and energy.
Mazury was even named Breakout Performer of the Year by College Gym News.
When she enters a meet, every competitor knows that Mazury is the top competition, and she is the one they need to beat.
The College Gym News mentions that Mazury helped lead the Spartans to victory and to the 2022 MPSF Championships, and often scored an almost perfect score of 9.9 in many of her events.
Clearly what I see is Mazury as the best Division I athlete at San Jose State University.
Aidan Bostic (@bostic_aidan) – Reporter
Charles McAdoo is breaking records as a sophomore and his ceiling may be higher than any athlete at San Jose State.
On April 9, McAdoo set the SJSU on-base record with 32 straight games. McAdoo has been a difference maker for the Spartans and he has gotten on base with ease.
McAdoo has the highest batting average on the team at .357 and leads the team in RBIs with 44. McAdoo also leads the team in total bases with 144.
During the 2021 season, McAdoo recorded a perfect fielding percentage of 1.000. The Spartans have stayed afloat because of their fielding and McAdoo has been a fundamental piece in the Spartan defense.
Jose Garcia (@JoseDGarcia__) — Reporter
Charles McAdoo is the best athlete on the San Jose State campus. He’s registered an eye-popping 1.068 OPS to go with a slash line of .365/.438/.630. His .438 on-base percentage is on par with some of MLB’s best players such as Mike Trout and Juan Soto. What’s bolstered his OBP is his on-base streak of 44 games, which is the whole season. McAdoo has shown that he can be an iron man as well. He hasn’t missed a game this season and has started in all of them. Perhaps his most astounding stat is that he is 120th in batting average in all of Division I college baseball. What makes things even more impressive is how unexpected his breakout season has been. Last season, in McAdoo’s freshman season, he posted a pedestrian .703 OPS in 19 games. McAdoo has avoided the “sophomore slump” and been the best player for the Spartans.
Autumn Blue (@AutumnBlue3) – Reporter
I believe senior women’s volleyball and beach volleyball player Haylee Nelson is the best player on the San Jose State campus. Nelson had a great volleyball season last semester leading the Spartans with kills and also was honored for the third time with All-Mountain West Honors. Nelson has been leading the Spartans in kills since 2019.
She was fifth in the Mountain West in kills with 241 and a season-high of 20 kills and 17 digs in a five-set win against Fresno State. She also recorded her 1,000th career kill against Nevada. With her drive to get the win and support her teammates while playing she has proven to be a force to be reckoned with on and off the court.Though Nelson is a senior and could possibly be graduating this semester, she has been one of the greatest additions to the SJSU campus.
Alex McCreery (@mccreery_Alex) – Reporter
The best athlete on the San Jose campus has to be Omari Moore of the men’s basketball team.
In 30 games, Moore led his team in five major statistical categories, averaging 13.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks per game.
He also had some stand out performances, especially toward the tail end of the season. He became just the third player in SJSU men’s basketball history to have a triple-double which came against New Mexico in a 71-55 win where he had 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Moore also had a near triple-double performance to almost upset Fresno State in an overtime thriller in the first round of the Mountain West Tournament. He had 19 points, 13 rebounds and 8 assists.
Moore’s availability is something to respect as he only missed one game all season.
Navin Krishnan (@NavinKthespear) – Reporter
Omari Moore is the best athlete at San Jose State.
Moore had a crazy year during 2021-2022 in which he shot a team-high 42% from behind the 3-point line.
In that year, he also averaged 34.6 minutes per game, a testament to his level of athleticism and conditioning.
He also had a riveting conclusion to that year in which he scored 19 points for the Spartans in the 2022 Mountain West tournament against the Fresno State Bulldogs.
But the most astounding chapter is his confidence in his game. Not only does he plan to return to SJSU to elevate his game to becoming a great intercollegiate athlete, he intends to take his game to the pros and represent the Spartans under the bright lights.
Ricardo Garcia (@SJSURicardoG) – Reporter
With the amount of athletic talent that has emerged at SJSU within the last couple of years, the debate of who is the best athlete on campus has reached a high point in its up and down trajectory.
While many cases can be made for several athletes, I’m here to tell you why one name stands out among all other candidates.
If there’s one player that I would say has embodied the title of the best athlete on campus, it’s Natasha Andrea Oon.
Oon has consistently shown flashes of greatness throughout the entirety of 2021-2022 aiding her team to what has been a historic season for the program.
This season might be Oon’s best since joining the program in 2018, racking up five top-three finishes including first at the Mountain West tournament. Overall, in her career at SJSU, she has captured 14 top ten finishes with an average of 71.59.
Oon’s success and hard work do not exist exclusively on the course as she has achieved multiple awards for her play and academics. Some of her most notable wins include 2 WGCA all American scholar awards, 2 First team all-Mountain West awards, and the Mountain West women’s golfer of the year
Being able to maintain that level of play while still being on top of school is the biggest part of being a student-athlete and it’s clear she understands better than any other athlete I’ve seen, making her the best athlete on campus for this reason.
Max Bechtoldt (@CavsMax13) – Executive Editor
It may be considered generic to say the best player on the best team is the best athlete on campus, but in the case of Natasha Andrea Oon, it is true.
Oon isn’t just the best golfer at San Jose State, she is one of the best in the country, and should follow in the footsteps of former great SJSU women’s golfers like Julie Inkster and Pat Hurst in continuing to the professional ranks.
Oon is a three-time first team all-Mountain West and a two-time Mountain West Women’s Golfer of the Year. This year she won the Mountain West individual championship with a record score of -10, propelling the team to a dominant victory in the team portion of the event.
Currently, Oon is ranked No. 10 in the World Amatuer Golf Rankings and is the No. 4 individual ranked player in the NCAA golf rankings. She is the leader of the national title contender, No. 5 SJSU women’s golf team.
Oon is not only elite on the SJSU campus, she is elite in all of the NCAA.
Matt Weiner (@MattWeiner20) – Reporter
I think the best athlete at San Jose State University is Natasha Andrea Oon who is currently on the women’s golf team. Hailing from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oon has gone on to sit on top of the mountain at a level that no other student athlete at SJSU can relate to. In 2022, she won the Mountain West Player of the Year and All-Mountain West First Team, two huge honors that no one else on the campus can stake claim in. The one critique to Oon is something out of her control – she plays women’s golf which doesn’t get the same media coverage that other sports like football, baseball and basketball do. This means that she isn’t put on a pedestal the way some other athletes are, but it shouldn’t take away from her incredible ability to compete at a high level consistently. The awards received at the end of her 2022 regular season campaign are all the evidence needed to show that no one else on campus can be held in the same light as her.
Gio Gaxiola (@GaxiolaGio) – Assistant Managing Editor
The best player on San Jose State’s campus right now is sophomore pitcher Brady Hill. This season, Hill has shown his dominance on the mound.
In 20 innings pitched, Hill has given up 21 hits, 15 runs and has 21 strikeouts. While his ERA is through the roof with a whopping 6.64, he has been automatic as the Spartans closer.
Hill leads the Mountain West in saves with 10. The next closest pitcher is Air Force’s Doyle Gehring with five.
The Spartans closer is proving that he can be a reliable arm for the future of the program. He became a redshirt his freshman year, meaning he has one extra year to play baseball for SJSU.
With only seven games left, Hill is solidifying his role as a veteran in the bullpen for next year’s team. The Spartans are riding on his arm for their first winning season since 2011.
We need more stories like this.