Cox’s Josh Haggerty takes VHSL state Class 5 golf individual medal
Cox’s Josh Haggerty shot a 2-under-par 68 Tuesday to win the VHSL state Class 5 golf individual championship in Harrisonburg.
Half of the teams and about half of the players in the 18-hole tournament at Heritage Oaks Golf Course were from Hampton Roads, but Haggerty’s three closest pursuers — all one stroke behind — were Northern Virginians.
The teams from the 757 were in the standings’ bottom half. Cox was fifth at 312, followed by Menchville (317), First Colonial (323) and Nansemond River (342).
Independence shot 287 to repeat as the team champ by one stroke over its Northern Virginia rival Riverside, which was last year’s runner-up. Deep Run was third at 295, followed by its nearby Richmond-area rival Mills Godwin at 296.
The four team qualifiers (from Regions A and B) from Hampton Roads were the same from a year ago, and they repeated their finishes except that Menchville and First Colonial flip-flopped.
Haggerty birdied four holes, including the par-5, 504-yard 18th, and bogeyed two. He overcame Briar Woods’ Ben Baker, Independence’s Neil Kulkarni and Riverside’s Vaughn McMeans by a shot, far improving from Haggert’s tie for 21st in this tournament a year ago, when it was played at Williamsburg National.
Ethan Rekant (78), Barrett Pendergast (82) and Easton Hamrick (84) joined Haggerty in comprising the Falcons’ team total.
Luke Combs, who tied for 15th individually in the field of 60, paced Menchville with a 3-over 73. Neel Palikonda (79), Thomas Aman (82) and Bruce Hitt (83) also figured in the Monarchs’ scoring.
First Colonial relied on co-18th-place finisher Bryce Jones (74), Region A medalist Ben Kablach (78), Porter Hurt (85) and Thomas Gourley (86).
Trenton McMillen, alongside Combs in sharing 15th place, led Nansemond River at 73, followed by Nicholas Conboy (80), Ivy Byrd (93) and Joey Tamayo (96).
Gloucester’s Andrew White (T-26th, 78), Bayside’s Brayden Miles (T-37th, 82), Maury’s Tucker Poole (T-47th, 86), Gloucester’s Gunnar Healy (T-50th, 87) and Princess Anne’s Fin Worrall (T-53rd, 90) were among the individual competitors.
Class 3
New Kent tied Charlottesville for fourth and York was sixth in the Class 3 tourney at Stonehenge Golf and Country Club in Chesterfield County.
Abingdon won its third consecutive championship at 18-over-par 306, 12 strokes ahead of runner-up Lord Botetourt and 18 better than Meridian, the Northern Virginia school formerly known as George Mason.
New Kent and Charlottesville were at 327, York at 335, Goochland at 338 and Rockbridge County at 351. Charlottesville’s Preston Burton carded a 3-under 69 for the individual medal by two strokes.
No Bay Rivers District players made the individual top 10, though New Kent teammates Brett Ferry (11th, 78) and Dillon Mickles (T-12th, 79) and York’s Jeremy Green (T-12th, 79) weren’t far behind in the field of 60.
Also counting in New Kent’s four-player total were Kyle Diggs (82) and Cayden Sheaffer (88). Beyond Green, York’s scorers were Lawson Pope (83), Carter Chapin (85) and Ryan Banwart (88).
Class 1
Galax easily won the crown at Olde Mill Golf Resort in Laurel Fork, finishing at 34-over 322 in Carroll County.
Middlesex, from the Middle Peninsula, and George Wythe of Wytheville tied for second at 348. Lancaster, last year’s champion, was fifth at 360.
Galax’s Grayden Laird took the individual trophy at 73, one stroke ahead of teammate Talan Gentry and George Wythe’s Benson Blevins, last year’s winner. Peyton Lambert led Middlesex with a 79 for seventh, and Lancaster’s Claire Beitel — a co-runner-up last year — was eighth at 80.
