Three Virginia teenagers rescued a family of three, including a preschooler, from drowning during golf team tryouts and still earned spots on the squad. The teens jumped into a lake after hearing screams and brought the family to safety.
Heroic actions at Culpeper Country Club
Andrew Tuggle, 15, and 17-year-olds Gavin Cain and Jackson Castro were at the Culpeper Country Club on the afternoon of 27 July to try out for Eastern View High School's golf team. They were near the second hole when they heard distress calls from nearby Culpeper Lake.
The trio saw a three-year-old boy and two adults struggling in deep water after their kayaks capsized. Tuggle told WUSA that one adult was holding the child above his head, but the effort was 'causing him to go underwater'.
Quick response and rescue
While teammates called emergency responders and alerted coaching staff, the three teens dropped their clubs, ran down the steep, boulder-strewn shoreline covered in thorny bushes, and leapt into the lake. They swam out to the family and brought them all back to shore before first responders arrived.
Police said no one was injured, and the teens even retrieved the family's kayaks. All three kayakers were wearing life vests, though the teens told WUSA they only saw the child wearing one.
Still made the team
After the rescue, the teens wanted to continue their tryout, but golf coach Patrick Thornhill made them go home to change out of their wet clothes. They returned in about 20 minutes and shot their way onto the Eastern View golf team as it prepared for the first tournament of the season.
Culpeper police chief Chris Settle praised the teens, saying their 'courage and quick thinking saved three lives'. He added, 'These three young men saw someone in danger and acted immediately, without hesitation, at potentially great personal risk to themselves.'
Coach Thornhill called their actions 'heroic', and Castro reflected, 'It just shows how much can change in a split second. If we weren't there, then their lives would have changed instantly.'
