High school golf has entered the postseason, bringing success for many area golfers and teams.

Waterloo’s girls golf team wrapped up sectionals with a sixth place overall finish on Monday. The team advanced to the Carterville Sectional by placing second as a team in the Roxana Regional last week. In Carterville, the team shot a 370. In Roxana, the team shot a 352.

“Yeah that was a great accomplishment for the team,” Waterloo girl golf coach Dan Umscheid said. “This team made that same route last year, where they advanced as a team out of regionals into sectionals. It was nice to be able to repeat that performance this year.”

Haley Faus continues her successful season. Faus shot a 75 to finish second as an individual during the regional. On Monday, she finished with an 81 — good for fourth place as an individual. Faus, who qualified for state last year as well, moves on to the Class A State Tournament in Decatur this Friday and Saturday.

“Haley Faus has continued to be the primary golfer for the girls team,” Umscheid said. “She has continued to show improvement since last year and throughout the season. She scored some of her personal best scores this season, which goes to show that she continues to get better and better.”

Makensy Umscheid’s season came to an end, but it was a strong year for her.

“She was the No. 2 golfer all year long,” Umscheid said. “She continued to show improvements throughout the year and she was just one stroke away from advancing (to state) as an individual as well.”

She finished with an 87. The cutoff for state was 86.

Umscheid added that every golfer on the team — Destiny Restoff, Shelbie Westmoreland, Remy Heinen and Haley Aldridge — shot personal bests at some point during the season.

“I have stats throughout the year. I graph the stats and it was nice to see the decline in golf because of the low scoring,” Umscheid said. “It was nice to see that trend for everyone turn into better scores.”

Umscheid filled in for coach Katie Mitchell this season.

“It was just a pleasure to have the opportunity to coach these girls, to fill in for Katie Mitchell,” Umscheid said. “I’m excited for her next year because she is going to have a really strong team. The team is only losing Haley Faus for next year, so there is going to be a strong core of golfers for next year as well.”

Columbia’s trio of golfers didn’t advance to state. At the Roxana Regional, Hannah Erpenbach shot an 88, Clara Taake finished with a 94 and Katie Staelins shot a 96.

For the boys, only one golfer in the area has advanced to state thus far.

Gibault’s Zach Heet shot a 79 at the Anna-Jonesboro Sectional on Monday to advance to the Class 1A State Tournament. Gibault’s  Alex Dietz and Jason Merz missed the cut at the sectional.

Gibault missed out on making it as a team to the sectional with a fourth place finish at Pinckneyville. They lost in a tiebreaker to Sparta.
Columbia’s boys team competed in the West Frankfort Sectional on Tuesday. Results weren’t available before deadline. The Eagles won the Waterloo Regional last week with a 325 team score.

“We survived more than the other teams survived,” Columbia boys golf coach Tom Detmer said. “That was the catch to that. We did come off good at the end.”

Detmer highlighted John Cygnarowicz’s performance. He finished with a team-low 77 from the sixth spot on the roster.

“We started getting everybody back as the year went on,” Detmer said. “Foster Gundlach wasn’t there, but we got him back midseason. Nolan Antonini came back when a third of the season was left. It was a pleasant surprise as our scores got lower. Obviously, when you get two of your top scorers back, you’re going to have more success.”

Detmer and the team’s expectations for sectionals are to advance to the Class 2A State Tournament.

“If we have a good day, we’ve got a chance,” Detmer said.

But Columbia has already had a stellar campaign.

“We had a really good year. We won our conference, the Carbondale Tournament, the Monroe County Tournament, we won the regional. Anytime you have a year where you win five tournaments, you’ve had an outstanding year,” Detmer said. “We playing in some high quality tournaments and played very well. We’ve accomplished every one of our goals so far, now we’ve got to do the last one.”

Waterloo’s team missed out on making it to sectionals together, taking fourth place in their regional. The team did send four golfers to the same sectional Columbia competed in on Tuesday.

Waterloo’s Ryan Stites, Avery Wheat, Matt Gaubatz and Colin Whelan advanced to sectionals.

The team shot a 339, just seven strokes more than third-place Mascoutah at the Waterloo Regional.

Valmeyer’s golf season ended at the Pinckneyville Regional. Carson Sensel led the team with a 90 and Andrew Whipple shot a 91.