Greater Houston Scholar-Athlete Awards
Written by Tiffany Groce
Thursday May 24, 2007

The 44th Annual Greater Houston High School Spring Sports Scholar-Award Dinner took place Wednesday night at the Marriott Hotel. Sixty-eight finalists sat on the stage in front of their parents, coaches, and supporters as they anxiously awaited the final results for the Scholar-Athlete Award winner in each sport. With outstanding accomplishments and years of hard work, each young man and woman present were winners in their own right.

Before each candidate was presented and finalist announced, the evening started with several speeches. The welcoming speech came from the President of the Houston Athletic Committee, Charles L. “Sonny” Sowell. Mr. Sowell said that the city of Houston produces more Division I athletes than 41 states and more scholar-athletes than 44 states.

Following Mr. Sowell, the Athletic Director of Prairie View University and the President of the Touchdown Club, Charles McClelland gave the athletes some inspirational words, “Use your athletic ability to help you fulfill your future goals. Academics is the key to your transition to college where you can achieve bigger and better things.”

The Master of Ceremonies, Craig Roberts then went on to explain how the student-athletes were nominated and “graded” to determine the winner. Each of the students’ coaches submitted a resume to the committee. 

The committee then “graded the resumes” in three areas, 45% of the grade was based on academic achievement, class rank, and SAT scores. 35% of the grade was based on athletic achievement, individual and team athletic honors such as All-District, All-State, and regional qualifier. 20% of the grade was based on “other”, volunteer activities, clubs, community projects, and leadership positions.

After dinner each athlete was recognized and highlighted, naming his or her accomplishments from the three graded categories. Out of the 68 student-athletes, 18 were either valedictorians or salutatorians from their prospective schools and 51 of the nominees had an SAT score over 2000.

Several senior athletes will continue their athletic careers and play at the collegiate level. The athletes will be attending universities across the United States such as Brown University, University of Texas in Austin, Michigan State, Alabama University, Air Force Academy, Texas A&M, Dartmouth College, Columbia, University of Georgia, Baylor, Rice University, Vanderbilt University, MIT, St. Thomas University, University of Pennsylvania, Emory University, and CA Lutheran University were all named as new homes for the athletes.

The award winning athletes in each category were:
Kristie Chin (Cinco Ranch, Brown Univ.) - Outstanding Female Athlete
Jereme Gray (Spring Woods, Alabama Univ.) - Outstanding Male Athlete 
Rhiannon Kliesing (Pearland, Texas A&M) - Softball
Jeff Onstott (Langham Creek, Dartmouth College) - Baseball
Olha Seniw (Aldine) - Female Basketball
Kyle Kahlden (Cypress Creek, Baylor) - Male Basketball 
Liz Wendt (Memorial) - Female Golf
Chris Causey (The Woodlands, Univ. of Texas) - Male Golf
Abby Strickland (Cinco Ranch, Univ. of Oklahoma) - Female Soccer
Craig Borque (Elkins, Univ. of Texas) - Male Soccer 
Bethany Quertermous (Humble, Univ. Of the Pacific) - Female Swimming
Michael Dobson (Cy Falls, MIT) - Male Swimming 
Carolyn Simmons (Memorial, Rice Univ.) - Female Tennis
Thanasi Skafidas (Stratford, Univ. of Pennsylvania) - Male Tennis 
Allison Pye (Cypress Creek, Rice Univ.) - Female Track & Field
Ryan Snapp (Kingwood, Texas A&M) - Male Track & Field 
Sarah Grace (Stratford, Baylor) - Volleyball

Rhiannon was interviewed at the Banquet by Todd Freed of High School Sports Live.  The interview aired on HSSL Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, May 26, 27, & 28.  The winners were also invited to the HSSL Studio on Thursday, May 31 for the taping of the following week's show as the 'in-studio team'.  That show aired June 2, 3, and 4.