TUSCOLA - Tim Gaertner and Greg Naleway should have been celebrating Monday. Instead, they wore similar expressions to their four teammates.

The Central Catholic High School seniors advanced as individuals to this weekend's state tournament in the Class 1A Tuscola Sectional at Ironhorse Golf Club. However, the Saints shot 319 and fell four strokes short of qualifying as Champaign St. Thomas More (297) and Effingham St. Anthony (315) claimed the top two spots.

"Very bittersweet," said Gaertner, who rallied on the back nine for 78. "My goal at the beginning of the year was to head out with the team. But it's definitely better going than not at all."

Naleway survived a double bogey on No. 18 to fire 79 and advanced to his third straight state tourney Friday and Saturday at Bloomington's Prairie Vista Golf Course.

"I really wanted to go my last year as a senior," said Naleway. "But it would have been so much more fun if we would have made it as a team."

Three other area golfers will join Gaertner and Naleway at Prairie Vista. Andrew Wuethrich of Eureka and Austin Sproles of Tri-Valley each fired 79, while Kevin Clore of Fisher made it on the number with 80.

Clore's teammates, Carson Denaro and Cody Warmoth, each fired 81 to miss by a stroke, as did Central Catholic's Jake Walters and freshman Austin Egbers.

Fieldcrest, led by Luke Morse's 82, shot 345 to finish sixth in the eight-team field.

Central Catholic coach Jason Welch saw his team make a spirited comeback on the final nine holes. The Saints' top four scores on the back nine totaled 154, but they couldn't overcome a shaky front side.

"Our goal was not just to advance, but to win the state. We left it a little short today, but I'm proud of the guys overall," said Welch. "It just didn't bounce our way today. No excuses. We played hard, but we just left a few shots out there and today got beat by two good teams."

Things didn't look good for Gaertner after his tee shot went out of bounds on No. 9. He was coming off two straight double bogeys and was staring at a third before hitting his approach within 6 feet and sinking a bogey putt.

"Making bogey on that hole really turned it around for me. I was definitely heading in a bad direction," said Gaertner. "I thought I needed to shoot even (on the back) if I wanted to help my team out at all."

Gaertner sank a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to shoot even-par 36 on the back. He also shot 78 in last year's Class 2A Sectional at Ironhorse, but missed advancing by a stroke.

Naleway was "really scared" he might miss qualifying after his second shot went into the water surrounding the 18th green.

"I was thinking it was going to be really close," said Naleway. "But even when I was out there playing (with) the wind, I thought there's no way there's going to be that many people score that good. There were holes you had to club up four clubs."

Fieldcrest coach Matt Winkler thought the wind pushed up the scores a couple strokes.

"The course was fair. I thought we could have shot a little bit better," said Winkler. "We just 3-putted too many times."

St. Thomas More's Nathaniel Khachaturian beat teammate Clark Schmidt in a two-hole playoff to claim medalist honors after both shot 73s.