Times' female athlete of the year, south: Quinn Thomas, Kent-Meridian
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Quinn Thomas is the quintessential all-around athlete.
When the spring season of her senior year at Kent-Meridian High School rolled around, she was torn between softball, tennis or track.
As it turned out, Thomas opted for a few months off to let a lingering ankle sprain heal. Basketball now has become her full-time passion, one that earned her a scholarship from Santa Clara after two sensational seasons at K-M. Until junior high, her focus was on soccer, a sport she has been playing since she was old enough to walk.
Pick the sport, and there's no doubt Thomas could master it.
After earning first-team honors in soccer in the South Puget Sound League North Division for the fourth straight season, Thomas repeated as the North's co-MVP in basketball. The 5-foot-9 guard, a three-point shooter extraordinaire, led the Royals to the Class 4A state tournament while averaging 20.2 points, 5.5 assists, six steals and four rebounds.
But those aren't the things people at K-M will miss most about Thomas, who also has a 3.83 grade-point average.
"The thing I'll remember most about Quinn is that as good of an athlete as she is - and she's an outstanding athlete - she's also a great person," said Derek Powell, her basketball coach for all three years. "She's just a joy to be around."
Thomas has been around sports all her life, thanks to her parents and three older brothers and an older sister. While little sis was welcome to play, she wasn't cut any slack.
"They helped me a lot," she said. "We always played in the back yard and they would never let me win. That's what gave me my competitiveness. I had to be smarter than them and figure out a skill to beat them."
Consequently, Quinn always seemed to be ahead of her peers. When her sister's high-school summer team needed an emergency point guard, she was thrown into the fray and held her own - as a sixth grader. When the Puget Sound Cascades won a national BCI title last summer, Thomas was voted MVP.
A standout year, a sensational career - Quinn Thomas is the toast of South King County.
Sandy Ringer can be reached at 206-464-8294 or sringer@seattletimes.com.