Back-to-Back: River Bluff boys golf wins second straight SC state championship
The River Bluff boys golf team won its second state championship on Tuesday.
The Gators shot a 580 over the two days to win by 15 strokes at the Class 5A Division I championship at Shaftesbury Glen Golf & Fish Club in Conway. It is the second title in program history.
Dorman’s Will Ruth (-8) won his third straight individual state championship by two shots over River Bluff’s Howie Vroon.
River Bluff began the second round with a four-shot lead over James Island and shot a 292 on Tuesday to win comfortably over the Islanders, who finished with a 595. Dorman was third with a 604 and Lexington fourth with a 607. Blythewood (633) finished tied for ninth.
The Gators had five golfers finish in the top 20. Vroon and Maddox McAmy (-3), who finished third, earned all-state honors given to top-10 finishers. Sam Booth (+6) was tied for 14th. Jesse Carlisle (+7) was 16th and Cooper Raley (+9) was tied for 18th.
Lexington’s Jackson Penney (+4) finished tied for 12th and Phillip Burgess was tied for 14th. Blythewood seventh grader Bo Moody (+10) was tied for 21st.
Class 5A Division II
Greenville edged Riverside in a playoff to win the Class 5A Division II championship.
Both teams finished at 5-under to force the playoff. On the first playoff hole, Greenville’s four players finished with a score of 17, two shots better than Riverside.
TL Hanna’s Erik Erlenhauer won the individual championship with a 7-under, 135.
Chapin (622) finished 12th and Lugoff-Elgin (626) was 13th. Chapin’s Ian Clark was 12th with a 2-over 146 and Lugoff-Elgin’s Hayden Haff was one stroke back.
Class 4A
The Class 4A championships won’t be held until next week but the classification held its state qualifier Tuesday.
In the 4A Lower State, Gray Collegiate (second) qualified for next week’s state tournament. The top eight schools qualify. Bishop England (290) won the qualifier by 11 shots over Gray. Gilbert finished ninth, one shot behind South Aiken for the final spot.
Airport’s Aiden Hook finished second and qualified as an individual.
In the 4A Upper State, AC Flora (third, 309) and Camden (sixth, 324) qualified for the state tournament. Blue Ridge won the qualifier with a 296.
Class 3A
Oceanside Collegiate won the Class 3A championship by 11 shots over Christ Church. The Landsharks fired a 585 over the two days.
Newberry was fourth with a 652.
OC’s Blake Bocelli (-5) won the individual title by five shots over teammate Canon Moriarty. Newberry’s Noah Mohler (+11) was the top area finisher with a 13th-place finish.
Class 2A
Atlantic Collegiate won the 2A boys championship after shooting a 594 to win by 39 shots over second-place Batesburg-Leesville.
Mid-Carolina (639) was fourth.
Atlantic freshman Jack McCormick (-2) won the individual championship by five shots over teammate Jack Talbert.
Mid-Carolina’s Landon Compton earned all-state honors by tying for sixth place. B-L’s Jackson Shealy and Nathan Ott both tied for 13th at plus 10.
This story was originally published May 12, 2026 at 4:03 PM.
