‘Heroic’: How Virginia teens' high school golf tryouts turned life-saving rescue mission at Lake Culpeper

Published 7 August 2026 · india

Three Virginia teens were hailed as "heroes" after they dramatically rescued two adults and a child after their kayaks capsized in Lake Culpeper. The incident

Three Virginia teens were hailed as "heroes" after they dramatically rescued two adults and a child after their kayaks capsized in Lake Culpeper. The incident happened on July 27 when the teens showed up to the Culpeper Country Club links to compete for places on Eastern View high school’s golf team, the local police department said in a statement. The trio of Virginia teenagers jumped into a nearby lake to rescue three people, then earned spots on the golf team, according to officials who are hailing their actions as “heroic," the Guardian reported. Andrew Tuggle, 15, and 17-year-olds Gavin Cain and Jackson 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 realised 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”. "At first, it was just a little boy screaming," Cain told the outlet. "The guy is holding him up, and it's causing him to go underwater," Tuggle said, describing what he saw as they approached. Meanwhile, Culpeper Police Department narrated the incident in a statement and said, "On July 27, 2026, at approximately 3:35 PM, three Eastern View High School students didn't hesitate before diving into Lake Culpeper to save the lives of two adults and a young child." "Culpeper Police Department officers and Culpeper County emergency services were dispatched to a report of a sinking boat on the lake. According to the caller, a family, including a small child who could not swim, was in the water after their kayaks capsized," police said.

Police said Andrew Tuggle, 15, Jackson Castro, 17, and Gavin Cain, 17, members of the Eastern View High School golf team, were on the adjacent Culpeper Country Club course for team try-outs when they spotted the capsized kayaks. While teammates called 911 and alerted coaching staff, Gavin, Andrew, and Jackson ran to the water's edge, jumped in, and swam out to reach the family. "The three teens brought both adults and the child safely to shore, then went back for the kayaks," police said. "The guy actually came up to me and said, 'You saved my life,'" Tuggle said. The location made the rescue especially difficult, police said, describing the area as "a steep, overgrown hillside with a boulder-strewn shoreline between December Ct and the water intake of the Lake Culpeper Dam." "Officers later used drone footage and Axon Translation Services to confirm no one remained in the water.