Tyler Green and Columbia City repeated as sectional champions Friday afternoon. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

WARSAW – It took a long wait and probably a few beads of sweat, but the Warsaw golf team finally got what it came for on Friday afternoon at Rozella Ford Golf Club.

The Tigers finished third in the Warsaw Sectional to punch a ticket to Thursday’s regional at Stonehenge Country Club. Warsaw finished with a 315, edging out Culver Military Academy and Wawasee, both of which shot a 316. Columbia City repeated as sectional champion with a 303 while Plymouth finished second at 305.

The Tigers were far from a lock as one of the first teams into the clubhouse. Warsaw has qualified for a state regional every year since 1993 and 27 times in the last 30 years, but that streak was in major jeopardy as the second wave of teams came off the course.

Rumors swirled that they would be edged out by Wawasee, CMA or even Northfield, but Warsaw played the waiting game and got rewarded for it in the end.

“Everybody is just extremely thankful right now,” began Warsaw head coach Ben Barkey. “It was a very unique day, one that I will probably remember all of the details of for a very long time for various reasons.

“All the way from how we started, to how we finished up, to the information we were receiving from people at the scorer’s table about who shot what. We’re in, we’re out, we’re in again. It was an extreme roller coaster for all of us.”

Jonny Hollar helped the Tigers advance with a great day on the course. Hollar finished with the field’s third-best score at 72, highlighting that with a par performance on the front nine.

Brandon Eckert was the only other Tiger to shoot sub-80 as he finished with a 78. Ryan Cultice came in with an 81 for the Tigers while Michael Jensen and Sam Yeager both shot an 84.

The team the Tigers were most concerned with as the final scores started rolling in was Wawasee. The Warriors looked to have things working in their favor and were in position to knock Warsaw out of the third regional spot with about four holes to go, but it’s never safe to predict anything in golf.

“We just had a bad finish,” Wawasee head coach Steve Coverstone said with some noticeable disappointment.

Wawasee just needed to play par, or even bogie golf to finish out and clinch a spot to regional, but it was not meant to be. A missed putt here and there by a few players and a double-triple-double finish on the last three holes for Jeffrey Moore sent the Warriors into a tailspin, finishing with a 316.

“Everybody had a few shots they could’ve saved,” Coverstone continued. “Jeffrey was fine up until the last three holes, I know Tristen missed a few putts he’d like to have back. There were some strokes out there we shouldn’t have given up, but, that’s golf.”

Moore finished with an 81 on the day. Cal Heinisch narrowly missed the cut for regional with his 78, shooting a 39 on each side. Mason Germonprez came in with an 80 while Kaleb Perry shot an 87.

Tristen Atwood salvaged some joy for Coverstone and the Warriors as he shot a 77, pushing him through to regional as an individual. The senior went 39 on the front and 38 on the back to punch his ticket to Stonehenge, but he knows he still left too many strokes out on the course.

“Really just knowing that it is my senior year kept me motivated,” Atwood began. “I knew I had to play good or it would be my last match. I still didn’t play the way I wanted to, I had two doubles, but I’m always competitive and I never lost that competitive edge on the course today.”

Atwood will move on as an individual along with Northfield’s Braydon Schindler (71) and CMA’s Kirby Hart (76). Columbia City’s Spencer Klimek was the tournament’s medalist with his par-round of 70.

No other local teams found the team or individual success that they wanted. 2014 regional qualifiers Greg Music of Triton and Bryce Zimpelman of Tippecanoe Valley both missed the regional cut with an 80 and 83, respectively.

Music’s 80 led Triton (344). Corey Carson had an 82 to lead Tippecanoe Valley (347). Whitko (356) was led by Cole Bechtold’s 84. Lakeland Christian Academy had a huge improvement from its 2014 sectional performance (435) by shooting a 412, led by Jake Strickland’s 93.

Tee times and regional information for Thursday’s round at Stonehenge can be found on the IHSAA official site.