Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs repeat as SHAC boys golf champions

The Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs boys golf team became back-to-back champions of the Southern Hills Athletic Conference following four days of matches in a span of two weeks. 

This season saw much success in their regular-season SHAC matches for the Mustangs, but in the four days of SHAC tournament golf, Lynchburg-Clay held overall first place in the nine-team tournament. 

Following Day 1, the Mustangs led the West Union Dragons by one stroke at 159-160, and on Day 2 of the event, both teams tied with a score of 157, leaving the Mustangs still in front by a single stroke. 

Again, on the Day 3 of the SHAC Tournament, both Lynchburg-Clay and West Union shot identical scores of 167, keeping the Mustangs in first place by one stroke going into the final day of the tournament, as Manchester won that round with a 164 score.  

On Day 4, LCHS carded a 162 for second place on the day, as West Union shot a 169, and Manchester won the final round at 160. The 162 score by LCHS was more than enough to keep the Mustangs in first place all by themselves to win the SHAC tournament with a four-day score of 645. 

In second place overall was West Union at 653, and in third place was Manchester with a score of 666. The fourth-place score was North Adams at 682, and in fifth place was Fairfield at 713. 

The remaining final team scores were: Peebles (727), Eastern (733), Whiteoak (752) and Ripley (943). 

In the final individual scores, the individual SHAC champion was Christopher Hall of North Adams with a four-day score of 149. 

Making All-SHAC for the Mustangs were Nolan Wilkin, Jackson West, Aiden Bene and Kristian Beachy, as they placed in the Top 15 overall. 

Wilkin placed third overall with a four-day score of 152, where he had event scores of 37, 36, 39 and 40. In sixth place overall was West at 163, as his scores for the tournament were 40, 39, 43 and 41. 

The Mustangs also had a ninth-place finisher (a three-way tie), as Bene totaled a score of 167 with event scores of 42, 42, 42 and 41. Lynchburg-Clay’s Beachy was tied for 11th place overall with a tournament score of 168. His event scores for the four-day tournament were 40, 40, 48 and 40. 

LC’s Austin Manning placed 29th overall with event scores of 49, 48, 43 and 47 for a score of 187.

The Mustangs are coached by James Walker, who was named the 2025 SHAC Coach of the Year.  

For the Fairfield Lions, final tournament scores saw Van Bennington place 15th overall for All-SHAC honors with a final score of 175, with his event scores being 47, 42, 42 and 44. 

Fairfield’s other final scores included: Pierce Abbott at 178 for 21st place (52, 46, 40, 40), Titan Crowder at 185 for 26th place (42, 55, 43, 45), Caleb Barrera at 186 for 28th place (47, 40, 51, 48) and Greyson Abbott at 203 for 32nd place (60, 49, 46, 48). 

Whiteoak’s final overall scores included: Carson Hart at 177 tied for 18th place (47, 43, 42, 45), Keian Moon-Stone at 196 for 31st place (56, 49, 49, 42) and Hayden Stratton at 208 for 35th place (55, 58, 47, 48). Playing in two events fpr WHS was Jake Kiley with scores of 45 and 40 on Day 2 and Day 4.

WHS also had Caden Butler play in three events with scores of 50 (Day 1), 44 (Day 3) and 46 (Day 4), while teammate Christian Hite played on the first three days with scores of 50, 62 and 58.