Celebrate Good Times

VYPE Awards sells out Warehouse Live; teams, coaches, players honored

Seth Livingston
Joshua Koch
May 8, 2018, 9:22 pm
The first-ever VYPE Awards was a resounding success with more than 600 people in attendance. Vype

The anticipation was buzzing as people waited in a line wrapped around the building on Sunday afternoon to get in for the inaugural VYPE Awards presented by Houston Methodist Orthopedics and Sports Medicine.

The first-ever VYPE Awards, which honored the best teams, coaches and athletes from the past year, was a resounding success with more than 600 people in attendance at Warehouse Live, making the event a complete sellout.

“After doing this for the past 10 years it was awesome to see the turnout for our first-ever awards show,” VYPE President Derek Dusek said. “We cannot begin to thank every person that made this night a success and we cannot wait to do this again next year and continue to honor high school teams, coaches and players across the City of Houston!

"Also a special thanks to Houston Methodist Orthopedics and Sports Medicine for being our presenting sponsor."

VYPE inducted its first VYPE Hall of Fame class with Michael Brockers (Houston Chavez), Chloe Collin (Cypress Woods) and Chiney Ogwumike (Cy-Fair) being enshrined.

Former Cy-Fair and Rice football standout Sam McGuffie was given the VYPE Lifetime Achievement Award. McGuffie most recently competed at the Winter Olympics in South Korea on the United States Bobsled team.

“What an amazing night. It was great to see the tremendous support for VYPE and reminded us why we do this,” VYPE Chief Content Officer Matt Malatesta said. “It was great to see athletes of the past and present. We are excited to see what the future holds.

VYPE was honored to have Mix 96.5 radio host Sarah Pepper serve as the event’s keynote speaker. Pepper’s message was touching and was about never giving up and not letting anyone tell you you can’t. Pepper closed her speech with a message about being a high-character individual.

Also speaking was Dr. Vijay Jotwani, who is a Primary Care Sports Medicine physician at Houston Methodist Hospital. Jotwani serves as the team physician for the Houston Dash, Rodeo Houston, Rice University Athletics and multiple high schools. Jotwani is also a team consultant for the Houston Astros and Houston Ballet.

KUBE 57 Sports Director Todd Freed served as the event’s emcee for the evening introducing all the award recipients.

VYPE Media would like to thank the Capture Sports Marketing team, Work America Capital, the staff at Warehouse Live and the entire VYPE staff for making this a resounding success.

VYPE Media would also like to thank our sponsors for the event; Houston Methodist Orthopedics and Sports Medicine and Sun and Ski.

Full List of 2018 VYPE Award Winners

Cross Country

PUBLIC

Male: Gavin Hoffpauir, The Woodlands

Coach: Juris Green, The Woodlands

Team: The Woodlands High School

Female: Halena Rahmaan, Montgomery

Coach: Chance Edwards, Montgomery

Team: Montgomery

PRIVATE

Male:_HabtamuMerkin-Geta, Bay Area Christian

Coach: Tom Earle, The Woodlands Christian Academy

Team: The Woodlands Christian Academy

Female: Ellie Catron, The Woodlands Christian Academy

Coach: Tom Earle, The Woodlands Christian Academy

Team: The Woodlands Christian Academy

…

Volleyball

PUBLIC

Co-Player of the Year: Ally Batenhorst, Seven Lakes

Sophie Walls, The Woodlands

Coach: Amy Cataline, Seven Lakes

Team: Seven Lakes

PRIVATE

Player of the Year: Isa Zelaya, Concordia Lutheran

Coach: Kori Parker, The Woodlands Christian Academy

Team: Episcopal

…

Football

PUBLIC

Offense: Kason Martin, Manvel

Defense: Chad Bailey, Ridge Point

MVP: Craig Williams, Crosby

Coach: Ed Pustejovsky, Cy-Fair

Team: Cy-Fair

PRIVATE

Offense: Jaylen Waddle, Episcopal

Defense: Marquis Hubbard, Kinkaid

MVP: Grant Gunnell, St. Pius X

Coach: Jacob Speen, Cypress Christian

Team: Cypress Christian

…

Swimming & Diving

PUBLIC

Male: Clayton Bobo, Stratford

Coach: Greg McLain, Kingwood

Team: Kingwood

Female: Lucie Nordmann, The Woodlands

Coach: Jeremy Wade, The Woodlands

Team: The Woodlands

PRIVATE

Male: Eric Wang, St. John's

Coach: Ron Raper, St. John's

Team: St. John's

Female: Sydney Buchman, St. John's

Coach: Kaitlin Kelley, St. Agnes

Team: St. Agnes

_…_

Wrestling

PUBLIC

Male: Daniel Manibog, Katy

Coach:Erik Spjut, College Park

Team: College Park

Female: Kaityln Banas, Cy Ranch

Coach: Chris Potter, Cy Ranch

Team: Cy Ranch

PRIVATE

Co-Male: Layo Laniyan, St. John’s

Colin Lawler, Kinkaid

Coach: Alan Paul, St. John's

Team: St. John's

_…_

Basketball

PUBLIC

Co-Male: CJ Washington, Jamal Bieniemy, Tompkins

Coach: Bobby Sanders

Team: Tompkins

Female: Charli Collier, Barbers Hill

Coach: Dedreck Carr, Wheatley

Team: Cy Creek

PRIVATE

Male: Miller Kopp, Houston Christian

Coach: Bill Honeck, Concordia Lutheran

Co-Team: Houston Christian and Concordia Lutheran

Female: Jasmine Smith, Kinkaid

Coach: Stacey Marshall, Kinkaid

Team: Kinkaid

_…_

Soccer

PUBLIC

Male: Daniel Duran, Alief Elsik

Coach: Vincenzo Cox, Alief Elsik

Team: Alief Elsik

Female: Ali Russell, Cinco Ranch

Coach: Lindley Amarantos, Houston Memorial

Team: Houston Memorial

PRIVATE

Male: Kyle Dagley, Lutheran South

Coach: Nate Hagge, Lutheran South

Team: Lutheran South

Female: Izzy Nelson, Kinkaid

Coach: Kinkaid coaching staff (Head Coach Angie Shotzberger, Assistants Tarik Guendouzi and Sarah Gifford)

Team: Kinkaid

_…_

Tennis

PUBLIC

Male: Kevin Zhu, Pearland Dawson

Female: Melissa LaMette, Cy Ranch

Team: Memorial

Coach: Budd Booth

PRIVATE

Male: Michael Barsky, Emery/Weiner

Coach: Dave Green, Emery/Weiner

Team: Emery/Weiner

Female: Elizaveta Antonova, Duchesne

Coach: Elizabeth Bohannon, Northland Christian

Team: Northland Christian

_…_

Golf

PUBLIC

Male: Damin Strydom, Kingwood

Coach: Jeff Bellnap, Kingwood

Team: Kingwood

Female: Hailee Cooper, Montgomery

Coach: Jim Bob Jackson, Magnolia

Team: Magnolia

PRIVATE

Male: Ben Wong, John Cooper School

Coach: Bobby Eggleston, Kinkaid

Team: Kinkaid

Female: Christine Wang

Coach: Joseph Soliman, St. John's

Team: St. John's

…

Track & Field

PUBLIC

Male: Kesean Carter, The Woodlands

Coach: Juris Green, The Woodlands

Team: The Woodlands

Female: Kynnedy Flannel, Alvin

Coach: Ruqayya Gibson, Cy Springs

Team: Cy Springs

PRIVATE

Male: Corbett Fong, Concordia Lutheran

Coach: Bobby Lindquist, Concordia Lutheran

Team: Concordia Lutheran

Female: Kennedy Gamble, Kinkaid

Coach: Jonathan Whitson, Rosehill Christian

Team: Rosehill Christian

_…_

Softball

PUBLIC

Female: Kayla Garcia, Katy

Coach: Kalum Haack, Katy

Team: Katy

PRIVATE

Female: Sarah Venker, Episcopal

Coach: Kim Randolph, Episcopal

Team: Episcopal

_…_

Baseball

PUBLIC

Male: Jordan Groshans, Magnolia

Coach: Kelly Mead, Kingwood

Team: Kingwood

PRIVATE

Male: Owen Meaney, St. Thomas

Coach: Ryan Lousteau, St. Thomas

Team: St. Thomas

_…_

Cheer

Team: Oak Ridge

Band

Team: Willis Wildkats

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It's time we had an honest conversation about the Houston Texans GM

Nick Caserio's history of drafting injury prone players has become a problem. Composite Getty Image.

Nick Caserio was hired to serve as the general manager (GM) of the Texans on January 7, 2021. Some saw it as another nod to the organization's obsession with the Patriots. Others saw it as the team finally getting their guy after pursuing him previously. They were even hit with a tampering charge while trying to talk to him about the job. Since he's been on the job, there have been highs and lows.

Recently, the news about Kenyon Green and Derek Stingley Jr put a stain on his tenure. Green was placed on season-ending injured reserve (IR) and Stingley Jr is expected to be placed on IR, likely missing six to eight weeks, per Aaron Wilson. Both guys were Caserio's 2022 first rounders. Both guys are starting to look like busts and have fans a little more than just upset.

Green's case was curious because he was said to have needed surgery before he tore his labrum during the Saints preseason game. He had knee surgery this past offseason. There were knee injury concerns when he was coming out of A&M. Adding to his injuries, Green has played poorly. To make matters worse, the Chargers drafted fellow guard Zion Johnson two picks later. Johnson played all 17 games last season as a rookie at right guard and has moved to left guard this season. The pick used to draft Green was part of a trade back with the Eagles. They used the 13th overall pick to take Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis, a guy at a position this team could desperately use.

Stingley Jr was a highly touted recruit coming into LSU as a freshman. He played as well as any corner in the country that year. Oh, and they won a national title with arguably one of the best teams in college football history. His net two years in Baton Rouge were marred with injuries. Some believed his junior year was more him holding back to stay healthy for the draft. It worked because he was taken third overall, one spot ahead of Sauce Gardner. Gardner went on to be an All Pro as a rookie. While he's surrounded by more talent on the Jets' defense, people will forever link them because Stingley Jr hasn't lived up to expectations. He missed six games last season and is set to miss at least that many this season. When he has played, he's looked okay. “Okay” isn't what you want from a guy drafted third overall ahead of the other guy who was widely considered better than him.

For the 2021 draft, Caserio was handcuffed. He had no first or second rounders, and made a few trades that lessened his draft pool from eight to five picks. Of the five guys drafted that year, only Nico Collins seems to be a player. The 2022 draft was more productive. Although Green and Stingley Jr were the headliners and haven't played up to the hype, the others are carrying the load. Jalen Pitre and Dameon PIerce alone make that draft class dope. This past draft was seen as the one to save the franchise so to speak. Getting C.J. Stroud and Will Anderson Jr got the team a franchise quarterback and edge rusher with picks two and three overall. The price paid to move back up to three was hefty and puts more scrutiny on Anderson Jr. They appear, so far, to have also found a couple other nice players. Tank Dell being the hidden gem of this class.

While people can't, and shouldn't, base Caserio's performance strictly off of the guys he's drafted, one must call it into question. The '21 draft was a wash. The '22 draft looks suspect, but has some redeeming qualities. The '23 draft will most likely be his saving grace. But should it? Former Texans GM Rick Smith nailed almost every first rounder he drafted. Even he was almost run out of town because folks didn't like what he did. Why should Caserio be any different? So what if he cleaned up the mess by the previous regime! That's what he was hired to do!

“Keep that same energy!” That phrase is used when people try to hold others to different standards. Where's that energy everyone had for Bill O'Brien, Jack Easterby, Rick Smith, Gary Kubiak, David Culley, and Lovie Smith? When others weren't performing well, their heads were called for. I see some people holding Caserio accountable. For the most part, it appears as if he's getting a bit of a pass. I'll be interested to see if this continues should the team has another subpar season. If that pick they traded to the Cardinals is another top 10 pick and the Browns pick the Texans own isn't...if Green can't come back and/or Stingley Jr doesn't show any signs of being a lockdown corner...then what? Let's hope none of this comes to fruition. If it does, we'll have to revisit this conversation.

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