The Sealy basketball teams had multiple athletes honored with all-district distinction following the 2020-2021 season where the Tigers finished fourth and the Lady Tigers sixth.

For the Tigers, senior Donte Beasley was named the District 24 Defensive MVP, and classmates Jacob Gajewski (first-team all-district) and Nick Martinez (second-team all-district) each made a team. Fellow seniors Lane Holley and Draper Parker earned all-district honorable mentions for helping Sealy make the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade.

For the Lady Tigers, junior Evelyn Harrington earned first-team all-district honors, senior Heaven Hernandez garnered second-team recognition and classmates Avery Oliver, Brylie Bond and Megan Schaaf were all-district honorable mentions. Also, Alexa Hernandez, Julia Jurecka, Oliver, Bond, Harrington and Heaven Hernandez registered academic all-district distinction.

Tiger seniors Clayton Prazak, Holley and Parker, junior Connor Krenek and sophomore D’vonne Hmielewski represented Sealy on the academic all-district team as well. Gajewski and classmate Cameron Eschenburg also garnered academic all-state honors to close their high school basketball careers.

In their final year for the black and gold, Avery Oliver, Brylie Bond, Heaven Hernandez and Marleeza Williams earned a spot on the Texas High School Coaches Association’s academic all-state team with a grade-point average over 92 for all four years of high school. Oliver, Bond and Hernandez landed on the second team and Williams was an honorable mention.

Tiger head basketball coach Cody Carruthers said he hopes this will start a trend of more players earning recognition.

“A huge deal once again. Those guys were factors and to be recognized and to win those awards are huge deals. I’m very, very proud of them,” Carruthers said. “We want to keep that going, keep taking kids that nobody’s worried about and turning them into award winners.”

Lady Tiger head coach Anthony Branch said although the sixth-place finish isn’t what the group was hoping for, he feels as though the squad left it all on the floor.

“At the end of the season, the girls didn’t have any regrets,” Branch said. “They competed as best they could, we all gave our best effort and that’s all I ever ask is to give your best effort. It doesn’t mean we have to be pleased with the results because at the end but at the end of the day, we don’t always control the results. All we can control is how we come each and every day and I felt like we did that all year.”

Not only did the Lady Tigers get it done on the court, but they also got it done in the classroom and Branch said that was reflective of the teachers at Sealy High School.

“That’s the thing that’s truly amazing about this group of seniors that play basketball is their commitment to the classroom. They know that’s important, they always took care of grades, I never had to worry about anyone’s grades,” Branch said. “(The teachers) deserve a lot of credit because they challenge these young ladies to be their very best. Not only are they good at knowing these kids who have been raised by great parents, but the teachers here in our school challenge them and I feel like they answer the call as teachers and that says a lot.”

Carruthers said for this group of seniors to go out with the all-district honors recognizes their contributions throughout their careers.

“Especially since it’s the other coaches deciding that means a lot. Obviously, we know their value and how important they were to our team, but for them to point it out (was awesome,)” Carruthers said. “And it was pretty unanimous. We got to see everything after we nominated it and they were no-brainers. So it was a good way to end a successful season.”