These Student-athletes from Kern Valley were honored for their Academic Achievement at the spring sports Awards Night.
Photos submitted by Principal Alan Paradise. Story by Ray Conner
For the last time of the year, Kern Valley athletes gathered with their teammates, coaches, and family members for Awards Night.
This past Thursday the room was filled with athletes from all the sports team at Kern Valley. They were here to put the final touches on the sports year. On this night, the student-athletes would be recognized for their ability to juggle between school work and their sport they played.
By the same token, those athletes from the Broncs and Lady Broncs teams that led their team this season were honored for being the MVP (Most Valuable Player). There were five sets of co-MVP’s as the shining of their athletic prowess was too close to call to select just one.
And finally, the Senior Awards were handed out to those athletes showing the right stuff all year. All three awards that were given out were to both a male athlete and a female athlete.
The sheer number of those student athletes that were honored with this award shows how well these young people can multi task. The amount of hours these athletes spend on studying, practicing and getting the required rest they need, spells out their resilience to succeed.
Being named MVP on a team gives high regard as these are usually selected on a vote by the teammates and consideration from their coach. Which in this case saw many too close to call to hand out one they selected five sets of co-MVP’s. Both the jayvee softball and jayvee baseball teams selected two athletes to receive the MVP award. In jayvee softball, Avery Valdez and Summer Santos shared being named the MVP. The two athletes from jayvee baseball were Wyatt Blagg and Jackson Price.
The girls track squad and the varsity softball and baseball teams also selected two MVP winners. In track it was the two athletes that went the farthest this season. Both Jayda Bushling and Aspen Hacker made it to the CIF Central Section Masters Meet completed this past Saturday. They clearly deserved to share the honor as MVP. They also selected one athlete who was the most improved on the season. Isabella Escoto was recognized for this honor.
For the varsity softball team, Ava Bates and Audrey Martinez were selected to receive the MVP award. The Most Improved went to Ava Elliott. In varsity baseball it was Seth Stockwell and Zack Wargo sharing the MVP award. The Most Improved varsity baseball player this year was Cameron Thomas.
In boys’ track Kyle Espinoza-Denys ran his way to the MVP award. A pair of Most Improved athletes were selected from the boys’ track team. These were Christopher Richey and Aiden Rapp.
The Kern Valley golf team which made a comeback this season named Jessie Wagner as the MVP. Most Improved went to Victor Fregoso.
The three Senior Awards handed out were, the Pat Mercier Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement went to Kayley Sietsma and Kyle Espinoza-Denys. The Kenny Salyer Memorial Award for Sportsmanship went to Ava Bates and Ed Bunting. The final award was the Most Inspirational Award. Alaina Check and Victor Fregoso were named to this honor.
With the curtains falling on this year for sports at Kern Valley High School, the future looks bright as the athletes continue to want to shine and show their Broncs pride.
