Celebrate Good Times
VYPE Awards sells out Warehouse Live; teams, coaches, players honored
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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There's no denying that this year's World Series champs (LA Dodgers) have some serious firepower on their roster. And one of the ways they were able to assemble such a talented team involved players like Shohei Ohtani being willing to differ their money.
Just this week, there was some speculation that the Yankees could do something similar when restructuring Gerrit Cole's contract, that would allow them more flexibility in the present.
The Yankees ended up calling Cole's bluff about opting out, and no adjustment was made to the contract.
But this situation got us thinking, would the Astros consider a tactic like this to maximize the roster? At this point, it doesn't seem all that likely. Just last year, the team handed out a $95 million contract to Josh Hader, without any differed money.
The other factor that also has to come into play is the tax threshold. The organization would have to give the okay to go over it again in order to make a splash signing this offseason. Which unfortunately does not sound like the plan right now when listening to GM Dana Brown at the Winter Meetings.
Astros pitcher hires a new agent
Now that MLB free agency is in full swing, most of the attention moving forward will be focused on players like Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, and Juan Soto.
But for Astros fans, there might be someone else to keep an eye on this offseason and next. Starting pitcher Hunter Brown quietly hired super agent Scott Boras recently.
With Brown still another season away from his first year of arbitration, he should be with the Astros for the foreseeable future.
However, the hiring of Boras does raise some interesting questions. Why make the move now? Certainly, Brown could use some more cash, as he's set to make less than a million in 2025.
Perhaps Brown wants to land some HEB commercials to fatten his wallet. And if Bregman does leave the team in free agency, a spot will open up for another player, in theory. And three of the players in the HEB ads are represented by Boras (Jose Altuve, Lance McCullers Jr. and Bregman).
Jeremy Pena has been stacking cash from Taquerias Arandas for several years now, maybe Brown would like an opportunity to do an endorsement similar to that.
I say all this half kidding, but Brown does look like the future ace of this staff, and I'm sure there are plenty of advertisers that would have interest in Hunter.
There is another element that could have initiated the hiring of Boras. Would Brown be willing to sign an extension early with the Astros similar to the deal the team made with Cristian Javier?
Their situations are actually pretty comparable, except Javier was one year further into his career (3 years of MLB service time) and eligible for arbitration before agreeing to the extension.
If Brown was heading into arbitration this offseason, it wouldn't be surprising at all for the Astros to be considering a long-term deal with him that buys up all his arbitration years. The 'Stros love these types of contract extensions. We've seen them do it with Bregman, the aforementioned Javier, and others.
One of the main differences though between Brown and Javier is their rookie year numbers. Brown only pitched 20.1 innings in his first season (2022). While Javier pitched 54.1 innings his rookie year. However, his rookie season was in 2020, so Javier completed a full year of service time despite the shortened season. Whereas Brown didn't get called up until September 2022.
Another difference is performance. Javier never posted an ERA over 3.55 in his first three seasons. As opposed to Brown, who had a disastrous year in 2023. He made 29 starts, recording an ERA over 5.
It wasn't until May of 2024 that Brown started using his two-seam fastball with great success and becoming one of the most dominant pitchers in the American League.
The Astros had a bigger sample size to judge Javier. However, if Brown has another quality season in 2025, Houston and Brown should definitely be having conversations about an extension. Especially with Framber Valdez being in the final year of his contract in 2025. Hunter could be the unquestioned ace one year from now.
Still, though, there are some concerns with handing out these early extensions. For example, if the Astros had it to do over again, would they still extend Javier?
After receiving his extension before the 2023 season, he went on to post the highest ERA of his career (4.56), and then blew out his elbow in May 2024.
And if we're going by Luis Garcia's recovery timeline from Tommy John surgery, we may not see Javier pitch at all in 2025.
So even with a sample size of three terrific seasons, the Javier extension looks like a miss with the benefit of hindsight. It will be interesting to see if that deal impacts Dana Brown's decision-making going forward.
Especially since Javier was Dana's first big contract extension as the Astros GM.
Be sure to watch the video as we discuss how the Astros can get the most out of their roster, the pros and cons of signing Hunter Brown early, and much more!
*Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcasts. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo discuss varied Astros topics. The post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon. Find all via The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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