Logan Davis

Logan Davis is a freshman on the men’s track and field team. Following up on his high school career which earned him a scholarship to CSUN, he set a school record of 6.64 seconds in the 60-meter dash, and became the first Matador to win the MPSF Championships since Rashad Allen in 2004.

“My 400 is my main event so I care for it more,” Davis told the Sundial after the event. “I get more nervous for that event, and I feel like those nerves really hinder what I can actually do.”

Davis also took home a gold medal in the 400m dash with a time of 47.23, which made him the first Matador to win two events at the MPSF Championships since Allen in 2004. Although he had a chance to qualify for the NCAA Division I Indoor Championship, he wasn’t selected. However, that didn’t deter him. Instead, his accomplishments reassured him that he belongs amongst the top dogs in Division I.

Upon the conclusion of the outdoor season, he was named Big West Freshman of the Year, and was selected to compete in the 4x100m relay in the NCAA Track Regional.

Jordyn Jackson

Jordyn Jackson is a graduate student and one of the best players on the CSUN women’s basketball team this year. This season, she made the Big West All-Defensive Team, and was an honorable mention for the All-Big West Conference Team.

On the road against Cal State Fullerton in January, she became the 14th women’s basketball player at CSUN to score 1,000 career points. She finished her college basketball career with 1,104 total points.

“I never really focused on individual accolades while being here,” Jackson told the Sundial when she hit the milestone. “But over time, my teammates notified me of the significance of my achievements.”

Jackson finished ninth in the Big West in points per game and tied for 10th in steals per game, while shooting 87.1% from the charity stripe. This was the best single season free throw percentage by a CSUN athlete and put her 26th in Division I.

Arianna Alexander

Arianna Alexander has produced some of the best results for the CSUN women’s track and field team. An academic senior and athletic junior, she has one more year of eligibility.

Following up her stellar performances in 2022 — when she ran for season bests 11.59 at the 100m and 23.93 at the 200m —, Arianna had high expectations for herself.

“I’m pretty happy with how I did,” she said. “The only downside is I didn’t set a new personal record this season. I was really hoping to hit 11.4, but I think I’ll be able to during the championships.”

The records she did set will still go down in CSUN’s history books.

“One of my favorites was at the UCR meet, when I broke the school’s 100m record,” Alexander said. In addition to setting a new fastest time in the 100m, she broke the record in CSUN’s indoor 60m dash. “I don’t remember what my time was, but I’m happy about that.”

The Big West Women’s Track & Field Championship will take place on May 12 and 13. “My biggest goal right now is to run 11.58 because I would qualify for the NCAA preliminary round,” she said. “As a team, our biggest goal is winning the Big West Conference 100m race.”

Jakob Simons

Jakob Simons is often first in the batting order for a reason. Through 38 games this season, he holds a .349 batting average and has accumulated 41 runs, 51 hits, 41 RBIs, and 12 home runs. CSUN is in fourth place in the Big West Conference. Simons is happy with his individual statline, but isn’t shoving it in anyone’s face.

“I’m not too worried about what I’m doing personally, as long as it’s helping the team.”

“I think what we’ve done so far has been excellent,” Simons said. “Our goal is to win the conference and make the postseason, so we still have a lot of work to do.”

Because of the pandemic, many athletes, including him, are not synchronized academically and athletically with regard to their year in college. He’s an academic senior, but an athletic junior. With one more year of playing eligibility, he hopes to make the best of his remaining time at CSUN.

“My second year of junior college was when the pandemic began, and during my third year we didn’t play at all,” he said. “I’ll be graduating this month, but still have one more year of eligibility to play.”

Jolene Coetzee

Jolene Coetzee is one of two CSUN women’s tennis players to be on the first-team all conference, and the only one to earn first-team all conference honors for doubles while claiming honorable mention for singles this season. She has earned a conference record of 3-2 in singles, and has gone 4-0 in doubles matches in the Big West with Angela Ho.

“We beat UCLA in regionals. That was a pretty big win,” Coetzee said. She also defeated Cal Poly in doubles for the first time.
“This is my best season,” she said. “As an individual and the team as a whole, we’ve had the best results and everyone is super close. We didn’t have as many problems compared to previous years.”

With the season complete, she is one of a handful of players selected to participate in the first N.I.T. women’s tournament.

“My goal is to just have fun, and hopefully the eight of us that are going can make it through a couple of rounds,” she said.

For the 2023-2024 season, she will move beyond her role as a player to a graduate assistant coach.

“I hope to help the players as much as I can,” she said. “Having played for CSUN for five years now, I hope I can transfer my skills and knowledge to the players.”

Gracie Piar

Gracie Piar, a freshman, is a member of the women’s golf team. At the Big West Championship in April, Piar moved up 14 spots from the first round to the third, tying for 21st at 17-over 233. Piar had two birdies and 13 pars in the final round to finish 1-over-73.

During the fall 2022 semester, she earned the lowest score for the Matadors at the Hobble Creek Fall Classic and the Colonel Wollenberg Ptarmigan Ram Classic. She reached the top at the Utah Tech Trailblazer Invitational in February, finishing first out of all 60 golfers at the event.

“I was expecting that from myself. I’ve been grinding all summer and was ready to roll at the start of the season,” Piar told the Sundial after her first-place finishes. “It wasn’t a big surprise.”

Piar had a goal of lowering her scoring average from 78 to 72 in the spring. Unfortunately, it only decreased to 77.67 by season’s end, but she has three more years to achieve her goal.

Gabriela Griego

Gabriela Griego is a junior on the women’s beach volleyball team. She helped the Matadors end the regular season on a strong note by contributing to a 5-0 sweep of Cal State Los Angeles, recording her 17th win of the season in the process.

“I am very satisfied with the progress my team made,” Griego said. “A lot of fresh newcomers came out this season and the girls have brought out a lot of competitiveness this year.”

Having to prove herself after only playing exhibition matches in the beginning of the season, Griego was eventually promoted to play the fives in dual meets and managed to help the Matadors tie a program record for most duals won with 17 for the season.

“My partner and I initially had adversity at the beginning but I’m glad we overcame it at the end,” Griego said. “Also our coach set up drills from our previous matches to help hone our fundamentals and keep us prepared.”

Griego was later named to the All-Big West second team along with teammate Abbey Sweeting this season, as the duo helped set a single-season program record for most wins by a pair with 20.

Mikayla Carman

Mikayla Carman is a sophomore on the softball team. She was named Big West player of the week for her standout performance in the 4-3 win against UC San Diego on May 5, where she tied season-highs with three hits and three RBIs. She is hitting .324 on the season.

“I am really proud of our team this year,” Carman said. “The seniors last year really set the foundation for our team to succeed and it has helped our program so much.”

Carman has helped the Matadors improve their record from 24-30 last season to 25-22 now. In addition, her batting average has improved from .302 to .324 this season, along with her recorded hits.

“I went up to the plate with confidence and also took on a leadership role this season,” Carman said. “And we just go out and play with heart and passion.”

The Matadors look to take care of business at the Matador Diamond against UC Santa Barbara on May 12-13, for what will be their final series of the regular season. They currently sit at 16-8 in the conference, good enough for 3rd place in the Big West.

Kyle Hobus

Kyle Hobus has been a key contributor for the Matadors for four years now.

The redshirt junior played his first season in 2020 and instantly cracked the top 10 in kills per set in the Big West. Two years later, he earned his first All-Big West first team title when he upped his kills/set from 3.02 in his freshman year to 3.49 last year, moving him from eighth to sixth in the conference.

This season, Hobus averaged 3.59 kills/set, putting him fourth in the category. The redshirt junior also finished tied for 12th in blocks in the conference, as the 6-foot-8-inch outside hitter is able to use his size to his advantage defensively.

Some of his key performances came in the two upsets over the top-10-ranked Stanford Cardinals. In the first game, a 3-2 victory, he led the team in kills with 21, while in the second game, which was a sweep, he came through to give the Matadors 14 kills and six digs.

Hobus’ dominance was overshadowed by the team’s late collapse when they lost 11 straight games to end the season. Despite this, Hobus’ impact is felt on the court even when the team is struggling. His veteran leadership will certainly be tested if he returns to the team next year.

Dorottya Telek

Dorottya Telek, a sophomore, has led the women’s water polo team to a 17-13 record as they returned above .500 after finishing 12-14 last year.

Telek led the Matadors in goals with 101 and steals with 44. These stats put her first in the Big West in goals this season and third on the list in steals. She scored her 81st goal against the Villanova Wildcats in March, giving her the CSUN single-season scoring record.

She reached 100 in the final game of the regular season when she recorded a hat trick against Cal State Fullerton. The Matadors won the match 12-5. In the Big West tournament, Hawaii found the answer, allowing only one goal from Telek in the 18-7 dismantling of the Matadors.

Last season, she was the first CSUN freshman to ever be named to the all-Big West first team in women’s water polo. This year, she made the second team.

She still has one year left with the Matadors and looks to add to her growing list of accomplishments in the swimming pool.

Atin Wright

1,000 career points is a milestone that was hit by two Matadors this year. Sophomore Atin Wright of the men’s basketball team accomplished the feat in a 75-68 victory over Cal State Bakersfield in February.

He played all 40 minutes that game, and hit his first career double-double as well, collecting 10 rebounds to go along with his 28 points.

A two-way guard who stepped into a larger role once Dionte Bostick went down with an injury, Wright led the team in both scoring and steals, averaging 16.7 and 1.4 per game, respectively.
His best game was the one at UC Davis in the middle of February, when he dropped 42 points to set the CSUN division one record.

He earned his second straight All-Big West honorable mention this season, but is looking to take his talents elsewhere. The Matadors are in need of a replacement now that Wright chose to hit the transfer portal.

Eirik Thomassen

Eirik Thomassen has been one of the most instrumental pieces to the men’s golf team’s success this season.

On a team full of seniors, Thomassen managed to stand out with his Matador-leading four top 10 finishes. One of three Matadors to finish first in an invitational this year, Thomassen has shone since he arrived at CSUN and joined the team in 2020. He secured three top-20 finishes as a freshman, and was one of only two people who had the longevity to play in all eight tournaments that season for the Matadors.

He jumped out to a quick start to this season in September, earning two top 10 finishes in his first two tournaments. He cooled off a little bit before finishing tied for fourth at the Wyoming Desert Intercollegiate in March.

His defining moment came four weeks later at the UC San Diego Invitational, where the native of Norway finished first thanks to his 20-under performance. Thomassen was named Big West Golfer of the Month after these performances.

The senior has shown improvement even at events he struggled in. Most recently, Thomassen took on the Big West tournament, where he moved up from 26th place into a tie for 15th.

We’ll have to wait and see if he has another year of eligibility left and if he plans to use it, but if he decides to leave, the hole it would create on the roster would be a big one.