IE VARSITY BOYS ATHLETE OF THE YEAR, 2023-24
Name: Brody Guinn
School: Vista Murrieta
Year: Senior
Sports: Football, basketball, track and field
Notable highlights: Nobody can accuse Brody Guinn of coasting through his senior year.
Guinn continued to be an integral player for Vista Murrieta’s football and basketball teams, and he also added track and field to the schedule this year.
“I like to keep myself as busy as possible,” Guinn said about playing multiple sports. “I think I would get bored if I wasn’t competing in some fashion.”
And his accomplishments during each of the three high school sports seasons is why Guinn has been selected the IE Varsity Boys Athlete of the Year.
Guinn’s primary sport is football, and his skills as a wide receiver led to an appointment to the Air Force Academy. Guinn finished his senior campaign with 59 catches, 988 receiving yards and a Riverside County-best 15 touchdown receptions. He topped the 100-yard mark four times and had at least one touchdown catch in 10 of the team’s 11 games. Guinn’s excellence on the gridiron earned him CIF Southern Section Division 2 first-team honors.
One week after football season ended, Guinn was on the court for the basketball team’s season opener. And he made a smooth transition, registering 16 points and seven rebounds. Guinn finished the season second on the team in both scoring (13.4 points per game) and rebounding (6.5 per game). He recorded a team-best seven double-doubles, made 58% of his shots from the field and helped Vista Murrieta finish the season with a 24-5 record.
That alone had Guinn in the running for this award. But he was not finished. Spurred on by his parents and football coaches, Guinn decided to try his hand at track and field. The athleticism made Guinn a good fit for the high jump and long jump, and he won a Southwestern League title in the latter.
“I didn’t have a lot of expectations going into the season,” Guinn said. “But I had a fun time and feel blessed to have been able to win a league title.”
Guinn has four older siblings who also excelled in athletics at Vista Murrieta. His older brother Davin was a basketball star who played collegiately at UC Riverside and BYU. Sisters Perry and Josie were standout soccer players for the Broncos, with Josie going on to play at BYU. Another sister, Emmie, was a hurdler on Vista Murrieta’s track and field team. And Brody is not the last in line. A younger brother likely will be at Vista Murrieta in a few years.
“I think Brody’s favorite thing to do is out-do his siblings,” said Coley Candaele, who coached Guinn in football and track and field this past school year. “There has always been that competition between them to see who can be the best. I think that is where his competitive spirt and drive comes from.”
Guinn wasn’t certain he was going to play football in college, but a visit to the Air Force Academy in Colorado made his decision easier.
“I fell in love with everything there,” Guinn said. “I like the career opportunities it could lead to, and I also get to keep doing something I love to do.”
