Sun-Star honors winter male athletes. Serena, Wickard and Lua take top awards.

El Capitan coach Adrian Hurtado never took having a player like Angel Serena for granted. A former point guard in his playing days, Hurtado knows how important is to have a floor general.

Even after the season, Serena is still leading the younger players.

"He's a complete player," Hurtado said. "He has an impact on the floor. Here we are two months after the season is over and he's still in the gym shooting at 5:30 in the morning and he's in the weight room with the younger guys.

"It never stops with this kid. This is what made him what he is."

Serena was named the Central California Conference MVP by the conference coaches after he led the Gauchos to the conference championship. Serena is also the Merced Sun-Star Basketball Player of the Year.

It was a special season for Serena in his final year at El Capitan.

Serena saw the potential for a conference championship team last season when some of the younger players on the team stepped up. Guys like Markus McCutchen and Dillon Greenwood.

"If they didn't believe before, they believed now," Serena said. "Some of our guys just had to be humbled. Just always being in the gym isn't enough. There's always someone out there working harder.

"We were a very unselfish team. Nobody cared who was the leading scorer or who was on the front page of the newspaper. In the end, we all wanted that 'W.'"

Serena's contributions can't be measured in statistics. He averaged 7.8 points and 5.1 assists per game. Serena's impact on games goes beyond the scorebook.

He set the tempo, he was a leader and he kept his team focused.

When he needed to score, he did. It was usually in big games, scoring 21 points against Golden Valley and then another 21 points against Merced to help El Capitan clinch the CCC championship.

"I grew up in Le Grand and I know a lot of my friends back home had high expectations for me and I had high expectations for me," Serena said. "To finish with a league title and being recognized as one of the top players in league is pretty cool."

Hurtado says having a player like Serena come through the program will benefit the younger guys.

"It's a blessing," Hurtado said. "Young guys can see the path that Angel went through. All the work he put in to become a CCC MVP and an All-Area MVP. He's a 4.0 student. I think he's three credits shy of an AA degree before he graduates from high school.

"The kid does it all in all aspects of his life."

Wrestling

Caydin Wickard, Golden Valley

It was quite a year for Golden Valley's Caydin Wickard. The sophomore won championships at the Central California Conference, Sac-Joaquin Section Division I-AA and Sac-Joaquin Section Masters tournaments and advanced to the second day of the CIF State Championships for the second time.

"I'm thankful for winning all three tournaments, league, divisionals and Masters," Wickard said. "I should have done better at state. I planned to do better. I shouldn't have lost to the wrestlers I lost to, but I'll learn from my mistakes and keep getting better at what I do."

After his stellar season, Wickard is the Sun-Star Wrestler of the Year.

In two years Wickard has accomplished a lot. He's set the bar high for his final two years of high school. The Cougars star is dead set on winning a state championship.

"I'm going to keep going after it," he said. "I'm going to try to get that state title."

Wickard hopes to continue improving. He has the drive to be one of the top wrestlers in the state.

"I need to work on my movement and my speed," he said. "I need to work on new moves I can put into a match."

Almost everything went Wickard's way until he got to the state meet. He felt he should have come home with a medal.

"Those were my mistakes," Wickard said. "I wasn't wrestling good that day. I needed to warm up better and I needed to have better focus."

The experience will serve as motivation for Wickard next season.

Soccer

Andres Lua, Le Grand

What didn't Andres Lua accomplish this season for the Le Grand High soccer team?

Lua finished the season with 40 goals scored, which tied for the seventh most in the state. Three of those goals came in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI championship game that saw the Bulldogs win their first section championship since 2001 with a 4-2 win over Waterford.

Lua and the Bulldogs went on to win the Northern California Regional Division IV championship.

Lua is the Sun-Star Soccer Player of the Year.

"I never thought we'd win everything," Lua said. "We really wanted the section title. Especially us seniors. We all pushed ourselves. After it finally happened we knew we made history. It'll be something I always remember."

Playing all three NorCal playoff games at home, the Bulldogs attracted large crowds. The community came out to support the team on their quest for history. The home bleachers of the football field were packed for the championship game against Leadership that Le grand won 2-1.

Lua often deflected praise for his play on the field. He felt his scoring was a byproduct of the teamwork of the Bulldogs.

"The goals didn't just come from what I was doing," Lua said. "It's mostly what my teammates did to help me accomplish those goals. Me scoring all those goals, putting all those balls in the net does mean a lot. Hopefully my brother (Brian), who is a freshman, will accomplish the same or more."

This story was originally published April 6, 2018 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Sun-Star honors winter male athletes. Serena, Wickard and Lua take top awards.."