DANIELS, W. Va. -- In recent years, the high school men's golf program at Mason County (Ky.) High School has been kind to the Shawnee State men's golf program.
Former Shawnee State men's golfer and nationally ranked NAIA talent BJ Knox obtained First-Team All-Mid-South Conference honors from the Mason County pipeline back in 2021.
Now, it's another young man's turn from Royal Country.
In firing a three-day 226, Shawnee State sophomore Trey Cracraft became the first Shawnee State men's golfer to obtain a top-10 finish in a spring conference championship tournament event for the Shawnee State men's golf program this decade as the sophomore finished in a three-way tie for sixth place -- jumping two positions on the final day of action with his final round of two-over 74 Tuesday afternoon, while Shawnee State placed seventh overall as a team in the River States Conference Men's Golf Championship Tournament, which was held at The Resort at Glade Springs in Daniels, W. Va.
Cracraft, who shot four-over 76s on the opening two days of the tournament, capped off his sophomore season with a strong Day 3, ultimately matching Brescia (Ky.)'s Aaron Munger and the No. 111-ranked golfer in the NAIA realm, Hayes Mason of Midway (Ky.), for sixth place on the tournament leaderboard.
Cracraft birdied the second and 15th holes of action and posted pars on 12 additional holes en route to competing a consistent showing where Cracraft rose from a tie for 19th on the first day to the three-way tie for sixth at the conclusion of the tournament. The sophomore ultimately finished just six strokes of River States Conference Tournament winner Leo Molino from Oakland City and sat just two strokes behind third place in the field.
Behind Cracraft, Kyle Salamon finished his three-day RSC Championship journey with a three-day 236, placing in a tie for 22nd overall in the field. Salamon birdied the fourth hole and posted pars on eight additional greens on the day.
Logan Hughes, who placed in a tie for 29th, finished with a three-day 240. The junior from Flemingsburg, Ky. birdied the second, fifth and 12th holes and posted pars on seven additional greens on the final day of competition.
Ross Ferrell (34th) and Tanner Stevenson (39th) rounded out the efforts for the Bears in the tournament. Ferrell posted 11 pars on the final day of competition while Stevenson birdied the 10th and 15th holes while posting eight pars of his own on Day 3.
As a team, Shawnee State's three-day, 54-hole 943 was the program's best performance in a conference tournament since the 2022 Mid-South Conference Championship Tournament, where the Bears also shot a 943 over 54 holes.
It caps off a season where the Bears return five of their top-six golfers, with Stevenson, the lone departure of the group, enjoying a career season with five top-10 and six top-15 finishes over the course of the 2024-25 season.
Cracraft, Salamon and the sixth man in the RSC Championship group, Max Kearns, each have two seasons of eligibility remaining while Hughes and Ferrell -- the latter of whom won a River States Conference Golfer of the Week Award in early April following his performance at the Pikeville Spring Invitational -- each have a season of eligibility remaining.
