September-October Sports

During the beginning months of the 2021-2022 school year, the KVHS sports have had a bumpy ride. These sports include cross country, football, tennis, fall baseball, and volleyball. Both volleyball and football were quarantined more than once throughout the season due to COVID-19. All of the teams have had to practice social distancing while at practices and volleyball was required to wear masks while playing. However, these trials didn’t deter or stop our athletes here at Kern Valley High School from performing and doing their best. 

Our KVHS tennis team won league at HDL finals on 10-21-21. This year we have four seniors on the tennis team including River Sarter, Gracie Surico, Nikki Brooks, and Angela Lezama. When asked what Angie will miss about tennis she said “Tennis has been such a fun sport to play. The girls I was able to play with have been amazing and I feel like we’ve all grown both physically and emotionally. I’ll definitely miss interacting with my teammates and scolding them for leaving the gate open.” Angie also talked about how their last few games went, saying “I can confidently say that during our last games we played amazing and they were overall a great experience. Being league champs this year was an enormous accomplishment for us, especially for the seniors of the team.” 

Our football program this year has been a little different than in the past. We were only able to have a varsity team this season so a lot of underclassmen have had to step up their game. The whole team has persevered throughout at least three two-week quarantines and defeated Desert High School in their last league game on October 29th. Their first playoff game is scheduled for November 5th against Lindsay. When asked what he will miss about football season junior Derrick Hinkey replied “I will miss all the seniors and having fun with them in the huddles during the game, I’ll also miss all the other players that aren’t going to be in my next sports.” He also added about their last game that he thought it went great and said “my teammates were the reason we won. I was feeling good because as the saying goes, ’we either lose as a team or we win as a team.’”

Our cross country season this year has been a long one, lasting into the beginning of winter sports seasons. There were a total of 9 seniors on the team including Gunner Davis, Mack Wargo, James Meachem, Dean Hinkey, Will Bunting, Brooke Watson, Abby Freeman, Brooke Jeans, and Molly Watson. They had senior night against Bishop, Lone Pine, and Mojave on 11-3-21 where all of the runners achieved personal records for their home course. The girls’ team captain, Brooke Watson, said that “the season was a lot of fun, I’m so proud of how the team progressed. Good luck next year!” Some memorable freshmen this year included Kassandra Guarneros, Ethan Stockwell, and Sebastian Stallone. Cross country is a very difficult sport to compete in and our athletes did a great job improving their times and running their races! Coach Woodward made the season memorable and the sport fun with various fun runs and games to play against each other. The XC team hopes that many new students come out next year to get in shape for other sports and have a great time.

KVHS Volleyball faced some tough challenges this season, but that didn’t stop them from killing it on the court! Although the JV team suffered through one covid shut-down and the varsity had two, both teams gave their all every game. Ali Moronez, Kaila Gholson, and Haley Tedrow, the three graduating seniors on the varsity team, celebrated their final season at Kern Valley with Coach Mrs. Mixon. While neither team won league, it was a season of learning and personal growth as players improved from game to game. Several players received recognition in the Kern Valley Sun for their stellar stats, and freshman Aspen Hacker in particular made a memorable debut on the high school court as the varsity starting setter. During KV’s 3-0 victory against Desert, Aspen delivered 16 assists while the team as a whole scored 24 kills. It was a great season for all of the ladies after a yearlong break, and we look forward to seeing them improve even more next year!

Overall Kern Valley High athletics are still standing strong and all of our athletes are looking forward to the winter season beginning. The first practices for basketball, soccer, and wrestling will be on November 1st. Our fall sports awards will be on November 16th starting at 6:30 pm in the FAB. Our first home game of the winter season will be basketball against Wonderful on November 18th; be sure to come and support our athletes!