SLO County sports standout earns MVP honors on 2 teams — and baseball Coach’s Award
.jpg "Coast Union High School senior Caiden Kennedy, who played shortstop and pitched for the Broncos this season, was named Most Valuable Player of the Coast Valley League.")
Like his older brother, Riley Kennedy, Coast Union High School sports standout Caiden Kennedy won Most Valuable Player awards as a quarterback for the Bronco football team and a guard for the basketball team.
Both Kennedy brothers received Coach’s Award honors playing Bronco baseball in their senior years.
Other awards given out by Coast Union head coach Brian Machado and assistant coaches Gary Stephenson and Trevor Near.
Senior Robert Saunders was named MVP, and junior Sabas Melgar was given the Most Improved award.
The Coast Valley League coaches gave Kennedy the MVP award.
Saunders, senior Luke Smith and sophomores Jovan Merlos and Dane Volz were named to the CVL All-League First Team.
Melgar and junior Andrea Aguilar were named to the CVL All-League Second Team.
The Broncos baseball team won the CVL Sportsmanship Award and Coach’s Award.
Coast Union won the CVL by defeating archrival Valley Christian Academy twice: 8-7 on March 28 and 5-4 on April 27.
The Broncos were defeated at home in their only playoff game by Pacifica Christian High School Orange County, 4-1, on May 4.
After graduating from Coast Union in 2018, Riley Kennedy completed his degree from Notre Dame University and subsequently received a full ride scholarship to the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he is now in his second year.
Caiden Kennedy, who will graduate as part of the Class of 2023, has chosen Duke University as his school of further learning, and will enter his freshman year this fall.
Caiden and Riley Kennedy aren’t the only people in their family to excel in sports.
Their sister Ellie Kennedy, who graduated from Coast Union in 2020, won MVP for the Bronco volleyball team, and was named CVL MVP in volleyball.
She was also named MVP of the Bronco basketball team from 2019 to 2020 and CVL League MVP.
Ellie Kennedy received the 2020 Coast Union award for Female Athlete of the Year. She is enrolled at UCLA, and was studying recently in Florence, Italy.
Coast Union High School basketball awards
Bronco basketball coach Carlo Green, who mentors both boys and girls teams in Cambria, led his Coast Union High School girls team to a 10-14 record overall and 6-3 in the Coast Valley League this past season.
The third-place finish in the CVL qualified the Broncos for a Division 4A playoff game against Notre Dame Academy in Los Angeles. The Broncos girls lost, 60-26.
Green named Hatzumy Ramirez as Offensive Most Valuable Player and Andrea Aguilar as the team’s Defensive MVP.
The Best Playmaker Award went to Alexa Bonilla, and Ava Glennon received the Coach’s Award.
The Coast Union boys basketball team ended with a 9-15 record overall, and a 7-4 record in the CVL.
That allowed the boys to participate in a home Division 5A playoff against the Lutheran Trojans. The Broncos won, 56-34.
The victory meant that the boys had a second playoff game. However, Coast lost to the Oak Grove Lizards in Ojai, 46-39.
Green gave the Most Valuable Player award to Caiden Kennedy.
Cyrus Tatham was given the Defensive Player of the Year award, and Robert Saunders received the Sharpshooter Award.
Broncos boys soccer team awards
Coast Union head soccer coach Luis Plascencia’s boys soccer team ended the season with an 8-9-2 record.
Plascencia gave the Best Defensive Player award to both Diego Castillo and Alex Merced, and Eduardo Diaz was given the Most Improved award.
The Most Valuable Player award was given to goalie Alex Lopez.
This story was originally published May 16, 2023 at 11:33 AM.