Cougar golfers place fifth in region
The Pulaski County Golf team finished their 2026 season on Monday in the Regional Championships. The team finished 5th out of a 15-team field shooting a team score of 319. Hidden Valley won the event with a team score of 297, and Cave Spring came in second at 306. Hidden Valley senior, Harris Camp, won individual medalist with a sterling 67. His round was highlighted by a rare albatross on the opening hole! For those readers who are not familiar, an albatross in golf is a 2 on a par 5, thus Harris was 3-under after 1 hole!
The Cougars were led by 1st team All Region, Will Rackaway with a 76. Cayden Mines shot an 80 and finished as a 2nd team All-Region representative. Evan Singleton scored 81 and Ethan Clark rounded out the team scoring with an 82.
Rackaway ended in a 4-way tie for two of the 3 individual spots for the State tournament and a sudden death playoff was held. Carter Dudash from Christiansburg birdied the first hole to qualify, While Will, Davis Cook from Abingdon, and Derek Bond from Lord Botetourt all parred and moved to second hole. After tying hole 2, Bond was eliminated on hole 3. Both Cook and Rackaway hit excellent tee balls on the par 4 fourth hole, but Cook was able to put his wedge shot to 7 feet and made the putt to win the second State bid.
“We certainly had our eyes on a state berth this year,” said Coach Hanks. “With 5 starters returning and the addition of Ethan, this team had the makings and started off so well. Not sure really what the late season swoon was about, but golf is a lonely game when things are not going your way. I am just super proud of the way the guys carried themselves throughout the season. It is good for an old ball coach like me to be around them!”
“We have improved our team and our program so much since Conner and Boone joined us 4 years ago. It’s nice getting off the bus and other teams recognize you as one of the better groups around-I credit those 2 for helping us turn it around”
When asked about the regional round and particularly the playoff, “Like I said going in, we know that course so well and I really liked our chances. Hidden Valley and Cave finished well ahead of us in the regular season, and it would have taken some of our best stuff, just didn’t happen. Certainly not for a lack of trying and honestly you can almost try too hard in sports sometimes-overthink it. We could go out today and shoot 300, but golf is crazy like that. The playoff was exciting, Will looked at me on the 4th hole and said his heart was about to jump out of his chest! He hit some really big shots and made a couple clutch putts. On the last hole, I thought he had hit his wedge tight and it just ran past the hole more than we thought it would. Davis is a fine player and a quality individual, so hats off to him and I wish him the best at states”