Sterling, Va. — Potomac Falls High School senior Hayden Hawes has made a commitment to continue his golf career at Shepherd University starting in the 2019-2020 school year.
“I golf because I love the competitive factor that it takes every time I step on the course,” the 5-foot-10 Hawes said. “Golf is a game where you can always improve, and I want to take my game to the next level.”
[adrotate banner=”19″]In 2018, Hawes took his game to the next level, helping lead the Panthers to the VHSL Region 5C championship, where they finished runners up and earned a berth to the VHSL 5A State championship.
“We started out as a very young group of guys and worked extremely hard to get better as a team,” Hawes said. “We qualified for the state tournament this year, and it was an incredible experience playing in the state tournament with all of my friends.”
At the state championship, Potomac Falls shot a 328, missing third place by just five strokes. Hawes shot an 82 to help pace the Panthers.
The Division II Rams also turned in a solid performance in their biggest tournament of the fall. On October 10, Shepherd wrapped up the Mountain East Conference Championship in fifth place, shooting a three-round total of 928.
Led by first-year head coach Chuck Ingram, the Rams – including Woodgrove graduate Alex Wilson – followed up their MEC Championship with a second place finish at the 10-team Virginia State Fall Classic.
“I have a good relationship with Coach Ingram, and I really enjoyed my visit on campus,” Hawes said. “I think I’ll add a very experienced golfer to their team and a golfer that is going to work extremely hard to improve on a daily basis.”
Correction: Any earlier version of this post stated that Shepherd is Division III. The Rams play in the Division II Mountain East Conference.