The Best of the Bears, Part 11: Top Cal Athletes of the 2010s

Cal athletes every ilk found their moment in the sun over the past decade

The decade of the 2010s began with Cal winning its first conference championship in men’s basketball in 50 years but quickly became an era boasting impressive diversity.

In the final (11-year) decade of our series tracking the best Cal athlete each year over the past century, The Best of the Bears recognizes elite performers from nine different sports: men’s and women’s basketball, women’s soccer, softball, men’s golf, men’s swimming, women’s swimming, football and baseball.

Alex Morgan emerged as one of women's soccer's biggest worldwide stars and swimmers Ryan Murphy and Missy Franklin shined on the Olympic stage. 

Jared Goff, Andrew Vaughn, Kristine Anigwe, Valerie Arioto and Evan Weaver all authored record-setting seasons in their sports for the Bears.

Here are our choices of the top athletes for every year in the decade of the 2010s: 

Jerome Randle

Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

2009-10: JEROME RANDLE (basketball). Randle, a senior point guard, was the 2010 Pac-10 Player of the Year while leading Cal to a 24-11 record and its first conference championship in since coach Pete Newell's final season in 1959-60. A two-time All-Pac-10 pick, Randle averaged 18.6 points as a senior and shot 93 percent from the free throw line. Randle owns the Cal career record with 1,835 points and is second all-time with 524 assists. He posted 36 career games of at least 20 points, including 31 points in a victory at Arizona his junior season and a career-best 39 vs. Washington State as a senior. Randle has continued his career as a pro in Europe and Australia, and in the latter twice led the NBL in scoring and twice in assists. Also: Alexis Gray-Lawson (basketball), Patrick Christopher (basketball), Theo Robertson (basketball), Hana Cutura (volleyball).

*** In the video below, Jerome Randle talks about what it means to him to have helped Cal to its only conference basketball title in the past 60 years:

2010-11: ALEX MORGAN (soccer). Now one of the biggest worldwide stars in women’s soccer, Morgan matched her collegiate single-season high with 14 goals for the Bears as a senior in the fall of 2010. Morgan led Cal in goals four straight seasons — the only player in program history to achieve that — and finished with 45 career goals to rank No. 3 all-time. She helped Cal to four straight NCAA tournament appearances. Morgan has scored 107 goals for the U.S. women’s national team, including nine in three World Cup tournaments and five in two Olympics. She was part of two U.S. championships in the World Cup and won an Olympic gold medal in 2012. Also: Shane Vereen (football), Cameron Jordan (football), Mike Morrison (track & field), Emily Csikos (water polo), Nathan Adrian (swimming), Tony Renda (baseball).

Valerie Arioto

Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

2011-12: VALERIE ARIOTO (softball). Arioto set program records with 23 home runs, 65 runs scored and a .912 slugging percentage in 2012. As the Bears' No. 2 pitcher, she was 20-3 with six shutouts. Arioto was Pac-12 Player of the Year and a first-team All-American for a Cal team that was 58-7 and reached the Women’s College World Series. Over her Cal career, she hit 54 home runs and put together a 63-24 pitching record with a  1.75 earned run average. Arioto has been a member of the U.S. national team since 2012 and four times was a gold medalist at the World Cup of Softball. She had secured a spot on the 2020 team that would have played at the Tokyo Olympics this summer before being postponed. Also: Keenan Allen (football), Jorge Gutierrez (basketball), Jolene Henderson (softball).

2012-13: MICHAEL KIM (golf). Kim was unanimously voted the national Player of the Year, but he was merely one of five Cal All-Americans on what some consider the greatest collegiate golf team ever. Cal won 12 of 14 stroke-play events that year, compiling a 206-3-1 record in individual stroke play competition. Max Homa won NCAA individual medal honors. Ranked No. 1 nationally, the Bears were upset by Illinois in the NCAA match-play semifinals. Also: Allen Crabbe (basketball), Layshia Clarendon (basketball), Megan Takacs (lacrosse), Tom Shields (swimming), Danny Barrett (rugby).

Ryan Murphy

Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

2013-14: RYAN MURPHY (swimming). A pretty good freshman season for backstroke specialist Ryan Murphy, who won the 100- and 200-yard back events at the NCAA championships and helped the Bears captured three relays, the 200 free, 200 medley and 400 medley. He went on to claim NCAA titles in both backstroke events in 2015, ’16 and ’17,  becoming just the fourth man to sweep events in the 100 and 200 four straight years in any stroke. Murphy won three gold medals at the 2016 Beijing Olympics, taking the 100 and 200 back and setting a world record in the 100 back in his leadoff leg of the 400 medley relay.

Missy Franklin

Photo by Erich Schlegel, USA Today

2014-15: MISSY FRANKLIN (swimming). Franklin won four gold medals and a bronze at the 2012 London Olympics at the age of 17 before enrolling at Cal. Included in her medal haul were golds in both the 100 and 200 backstroke. She was the FINA World Swimmer of the Year in both 2011 and '12. She then won six gold medals at the 2013 World Championships. Before winning five more medals, including two golds, at the 2015 Worlds, Franklin starred for Cal, earning Pac-12 and national swimmer of the year in 2015. She won five NCAA titles that season, including individual crowns in the 200 free, 200 back and 200 individual medley, leading the Bears to the team title. Also: Trevor Davis (football), Brittany Boyd (basketball), Reshanda Gray (basketball), Tyrone Wallace (basketball).

Jared Goff

Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

2015-16: JARED GOFF (football). The junior quarterback from Marin set school records by passing for 4,719 yards with 43 touchdowns. He passed for a Cal single-game record 542 yards against Arizona State. In his final four college games for the Bears that season, he totaled 1,848 passing yards with 19 touchdowns and just one interception. Goff led Cal to an 8-5 record and a bowl game before becoming the No. 1 overall NFL draft choice of the Los Angeles Rams. As a third-year pro, at the age of just 24, Goff passed for 4,688 yards and 32 touchdowns, helping the Rams to Super Bowl LIII after the 2018 season. Also: Kenny Lawler (football), Jaylen Brown (basketball), Brett Cumberland (baseball).

2016-17: DAVIS WEBB (football). Webb played just one season at Berkeley, transferring from Texas Tech after losing the job to a young Patrick Mahomes. It worked out well for everyone as Webb passed for 4,295 yards and 37 touchdowns — both the second-highest single-season totals in school history. Also: Chad Hansen (football), Kathleen Baker (swimming).

2017-18: ANDREW VAUGHN (baseball). A consensus All-America first baseman, Vaughn batted .402, tied Cal’s single-season record with 23 home runs, drove in 63 runs and had a school-record .819 slugging percentage to win the Pac-12 Player of the Year award and the Golden Spikes Award as college baseball’s best player. A year later, after being named to the All-Pac-12 team for the third straight season as a junior, Vaughn was the No. 3 overall pick of the Chicago White Sox in the 2019 MLB draft. Also: Dora Antal (water polo).

Kristine Anigwe

Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

2018-19: KRISTINE ANIGWE (basketball). Anigwe averaged 22.5 points and a school-record and NCAA-leading 16.2 rebounds, including a stunning 32-point 30-rebound performance vs. Washington State. She became the Bears’ all-time career leader with 2,591 points, a 20.2 scoring average, 1,404 rebounds and 205 blocked shots. Anigwe won first-team All-Pac-12 honors four straight seasons, was a second-team All-American as a senior and was named the Naismith National Defensive Player of the Year. She scored a school-record 50 points in a game as a sophomore. Also: Camryn Rogers (track & field), Andrew Seliskar (swimming).

Evan Weaver

Photo by Gabriel Mayberry, USA Today

2019-20: EVAN WEAVER (football). The senior inside linebacker led the nation with 182 tackles, eclipsing Hardy Nickerson’s 35-year-old school record of 167, to earn Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and consensus All-America honors. Weaver, who had three games with at least 21 tackles, led the Bears to an 8-5 record and a victory over Illinois in the RedBox Bowl. Weaver had 155 tackles as a junior and finished his career with 408. Weaver was a sixth-round NFL draft choice of the Arizona Cardinals last month.

Click here for Part 2 of the series: Top Cal athletes of the 1920s

Click here for Part 3 of the series: Top Cal athletes of the 1930s

Click here for Part 4 of the series: Top Cal athletes of the 1940s

Click here for Part 5 of the series: Top Cal athletes of the 1950s

Click here for Part 6 of the series: Top Cal athletes of the 1960s

Click here for Part 7 of the series: Top Cal athletes of the 1970s

Click here for Part 8 of the series: Top Cal athletes of the 1980s

Click here for Part 9 of the series: Top Cal athletes of the 1990s

Click here for Part 10 of the series: Top Cal athletes of the 2000s

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @JeffFaraudo

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