Seven Lakes Golf Coach Receives HAGCA Coach of the Year Honors

By George Slaughter

Sean Ewing (Katy ISD photo)

Seven Lakes golf coach Sean Ewing has been named 2021 Girls Coach of the Year by the Houston Area Golf Coaches Association.

The award is new, as is the association, which Ewing said started about a year ago. The association accepts nominations for coaches, and names getting the most nominations are put on a ballot for members to choose.

“It’s still in its infancy,” Ewing said. “We wanted to start recognizing coaches throughout the area. I’m just blessed to have a good golf program her at Seven Lakes. We have good kids to represent the school and sports. I’m humbled in getting it. I appreciate all the love from all my coaching buddies.”

Ewing coaches both the boys’ and girls’ teams at Seven Lakes. He has been there since the school opened in 2005, and said that he was one of the original faculty members still there. He said Angela Spurlock, the girls basketball coach, and Marvin Rathke, the track coach, are the other original staffers in the athletic department.

Under Ewing’s coaching, the girls’ golf team, led by seniors Grayson Heilman and Lauren Nguyen, sophomore Maelynn Kim, and freshmen Floortje Rademaker and Kay Song, won their third consecutive Class 6A Region III golf title last month.

The win qualified the Spartans for a place in the state golf tournament, held earlier this week at Legacy Hills Golf Club in Georgetown. Lewisville Hebron won the title with a two-round 598 score. The Spartans finished sixth with a 623 score.

“They got inaugurated into Seven Lakes golf very quickly, the levels of commitment,” Ewing said. “Grayson and Lauren let them known from the beginning the kind of effort that goes into it. They all went together and practiced. They became a team. They kept each other honest and working and helped each other out when it came to their game.”

Kim made first-team all-state, the third player in Spartan history to make the top 10 at the state tournament.

Nguyen will continue playing golf at Texas A&M, while Heilman will continue at Texas State.

“Those two are just phenomenal,” Ewing said. “They both had that goal since they started playing golf.”

Ewing said Heilman didn’t pick up a golf club until she was in the eighth grade, but her older sister played golf at Seven Lakes. Heilman attended a Seven Lakes sports banquet at which her sister was recognized, and after the banquet told her family she also wanted to play golf.

“She did what she needed to do to get where she wanted to go,” Ewing said, adding that Heilman took care to look at the prospective golf coaches when considering college programs. She thought Texas State was the right program for her, Ewing said.

Nguyen, meanwhile, “had a bunch of offers,” Ewing said, but Texas A&M was her first choice.

“She jumped right on it because she wanted to be in Texas and stay close to home,” Ewing said.

While the girls’ team made it to the state tournament, the boys’ team has also enjoyed success. Last month it won the District 19-6A title. One of the players, Van Miller, will continue his golfing career at Blinn Junior College.

“Our 2015 was our last boys’ team to make state tournament,” Ewing said. “The boys’ competition is tougher than the girls’ competition. If you make it out of our region, you’ve played some pretty dad gum good golf. We had a real good season. We finished in top five in every tournament we played in.”