Kaelli Thiel

KAELLI THIEL
PHS CLASS OF 2016

Kaelli Thiel, PHS Class of 2016, stands among the most accomplished tennis athletes in Piedmont High School history. Competing four years at #1 singles, she compilied an individual singles record of 94-10 and led the varsity team to a record of 92-13, four consecutive undefeated WAAC championships (2012-15) and NCS team titles in 2013, 2014, and 2015. She served as Team Captain in 2015.

Individually, Thiel was WAAC Singles Champion in 2012, 2014, and 2015, and NCS Singles Champion in 2014 and 2015. She was named WAAC Player of the Year three times and earned First Team All-League honors in all four seasons, achieving a USTA national ranking of 8 in the 18s division. She was named Mercury News East Bay Girls Tennis Player of the Year, PHS Senior Female Athlete, and Piedmont Post Athlete of the Year.

Her excellence extended equally to academics and character. A four-time CIF Scholar-Athlete and PHS Honor Society member, Thiel received the Ohleyer Award from the Olympic Club Foundation, the Toyota/Steve Young Student-Athlete of the Year Award from the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, and the George Tittman Award from the Berkeley Tennis Club. She also founded Love All, a nonprofit providing tennis opportunities to under-resourced schools.

Thiel continued her athletic and academic career at Harvard University, competing on the Ivy League Championship tennis team (2017) and the varsity polo team, while earning the David Rockefeller International Experience Award and graduating in 2020 with an AB in Integrative Biology with Honors. Her post-collegiate pursuits have included research with the ALS Therapy Development Institute, certification as an EMT, motion analysis research at Samuel Merritt University, and international service through the Mamelodi Initiative in South Africa. She attended VCU School of Medicine Class of 2025.

Kaelli Thiel's induction into the Piedmont Sports Hall of Fame honors a career defined by championship performance, scholarship, and service.