Blacksburg High School is two steps away from its second-straight Class 4 state golf title. Thursday, the Bruins rolled through the 4D West sub-regional at Hanging Rock Golf Club in Salem.
Ben Carroll took medalist honors for Blacksburg with a 4-under par 68, shooting a 33 on the back nine to pick up the win.
His coach, Rick Mattox, sang his praises.
“Ben played great at Hanging Rock. Birdied three of his last four holes to finish 4-under,” he said.
Blacksburg finished with a 298, 43 shots over second place Salem (341). Carroll County (352) finished third and Pulaski County (354) fourth.
Mattox called his a good win for the Bruins.
“Hanging Rock greens are hard to read, so shooting under 300 as a team is a good performance,” he said.
Melissa Meng and Jack Duncan were both second in the tournament, shooting a 76. Blacksburg’s Michael Joyce finished with a 78, Soren Winstorfer an 82 and Jonah Winistorfer an 83.
On the season, Blacksburg has not lost a match. Both the Bruins and Salem advance to the regionals set for later this week at Winton Country Club in Amherst.
Mattox said he doesn’t make predictions but is high on his team’s chance in the next two stages.
“I hope we continue to play well and certainly hope we can make it out of regions and get back to states to defend our title. It will be tough as Williamsburg National is Bermuda grass, which we don’t have a lot of experience playing on,” he said.
The Bruins dominated the all-district team announced Friday. Carroll, Duncan, Joyce and S. Winistorfer were all first team, while J. Winistorfer and Malissa Meng were second team. David Zhang was honorable mention.
Christiansburg’s Seth Walker was named second team, and Evan Robins was honorable mention.