Virginia teens at golf tryouts rescue family from drowning and then make squad

Gavin Cain, Andrew Tuggle and Jackson Castro were at golf team tryouts when they heard screams from nearby lake

A trio of Virginia teenagers recently showed up to golf team tryouts, jumped into a nearby lake to rescue three people – including a preschooler who couldn’t swim – after their kayaks capsized, and then earned spots on the squad, according to officials who are hailing their actions as “heroic”.

In events that authorities say demonstrate the kind of leadership that young people are capable of, Andrew Tuggle, 15, and 17-year-olds Gavin Cain and Jackson Castro showed up to the Culpeper Country Club links on the afternoon of 27 July to compete for places on Eastern View high school’s golf team, the local police department said in a statement.

Tuggle, Cain and Castro were near the course’s second hole when they heard screams of distress coming from adjacent Culpeper Lake, as they later said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday by news channel WUSA of nearby Washington DC.

They soon realized it was a three-year-old boy and two adults who were yelling as the family struggled in deep water after their kayaks had capsized. Tuggle told WUSA that he could see one of the adults holding the child above his head, but the effort was “causing him to go underwater”.

So, while teammates called emergency responders for help and alerted the coaching staff, Tuggle, Cain and Castro dropped their clubs; ran down the steep, boulder-strewn shoreline, which was covered in thorny bushes; and leapt into the lake, the Culpeper police department said in its statement.

The teens then swam out to the family and brought all of them back to the shore by the time first responders had arrived, police said. No one was injured, according to police, who added that Tuggle, Cain and Castro even retrieved the family’s kayaks.

Police said all three kayakers were wearing life vests – and video from an officer’s bodyworn camera that was aired by the Washington DC station WTTG showed a boy and a man at the scene each wearing one. The teens, meanwhile, reportedly told WUSA they only saw the child in a lifejacket.

“The guy actually came up to me and said, ‘You saved my life,’” Tuggle recalled to the outlet.

Whatever the case, as Eastern View golf coach Patrick Thornhill put it to WUSA, Tuggle, Cain and Castro wanted to immediately finish playing their round. Thornhill said he had to make them go home to change out of their wet clothes.

They did so, returned to the course in about 20 minutes, and shot their way on to the Eastern View golf team as it began preparing for the first tournament of the upcoming season, WUSA reported.

The Culpeper police’s statement asserted that Tuggle, Cain and Castro “prevented a tragedy”. A quote attributed to department chief, Chris Settle, said that the teens’ “courage and quick thinking … saved three lives”.

“These three young men saw someone in danger and acted immediately, without hesitation, at potentially great personal risk to themselves,” Settle said. “I hope their actions inspire all of us, and I’m incredibly proud to see this kind of leadership from young people in our community.”

Thornhill in his own prepared statement said: “The instinct and courage these young men showed to jump into action and save lives is heroic.”

Reflecting on his dramatic golf tryouts, Castro said to WUSA: “It just shows how much can change in a split second. If we weren’t there, then their lives would have changed instantly.”