Waubonsie Girls Golf Wins 2nd Regional Crown

PLAINFIELD – Early in the season, Waubonsie Valley girls golf coach John Farnan knew what he could expect out of his top two golfers, Cherise Mangal and Courtney Williams.

The rest of the lineup was a bit of a mystery.

"Usually, we're looking for a fourth score," Farnan said. "Back at the start of the season, I was looking for a third score."

As the season moved on, however, that started to materialize. After a strong performance in the Upstate Eight Valley Conference tournament last week, the Warriors followed it up with a Class AA Naperville Central Regional championship Wednesday.

Waubonsie shot a 355 as a team to edge Naperville Central by two strokes for the title and advance to Monday's Class AA Homewood-Flossmoor Sectional at Coyote Run. It is the program's second regional title and first since 2006.

"It was enough," Farnan said. "It was all six contributing. It wasn't just four. It was good to see. We had four solid scores. I was happy with those scores."

Mangal shot an 84, one off the medalist pace, to lead the Warriors. Williams made the turn at 41, but struggled to a 91. No. 3 golfer Maggie Miklasz shot a solid 88 and Waubonsie picked up a 92 out of the No. 6 slot from Morgan Neihardt.

Mangal's consistent goal is to be around or under 80, but her 84 proved to be among the top four rounds in the tournament. And she and her teammates live to fight another week.

"Today, I just wanted to advance, shoot an OK score so I could get to sectionals," Mangal said. "And it happened, so I'm happy. It feels great because we all played well on the same day. Conference, we played well and we just wanted to back that up and show what we've got, and we came out and won."

Metea Valley will be represented in the sectional tournament for the first time in school history as both Natalya Schleebs (91) and Alyna Vaughan (92) advanced as individuals. Metea shot a 386 as a team, 22 stokes shy of the final team qualifier.

"It's really exciting because we're starting a new tradition, making everybody think that we can all go next year," Schleebs said. "It's really great. I know I could have done better, but just actually going (to sectionals) is great."

Neuqua Valley shot a 374 as a team, but the Wildcats also advanced a pair of golfers to the sectional. Both Therese Long and Alisha Patel shot 90s to move on to Coyote Run and one of the toughest sectionals in the state.