The battle for 42nd Street NE between the Kennedy Cougars and Xavier Saints has hit the links.

Xavier struck the first blow last Thursday when it trimmed Kennedy by nine shots for top honors at the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet at Bunker Hill in Dubuque.

The Cougars struck back Monday by trimming the Saints by six strokes at the Linn-Mar Invitational at Hunters Ridge.

This could go on all season.

Harrison Moore fired a 3-over-par 75 Monday to help the Cougars capture the title in a 12-team field.

Moore did not play in the MVC Super Meet last week because he was competing at a junior tournament in Austin, Texas, and his presence in the lineup Monday gave Kennedy the edge it needed.

"I just went out there and played my best," said Moore, who collected only one birdie all day. "I wasn't able to make too many putts."

Moore is a senior on a young club that had four sophomores and one junior in the lineup Monday. The Cougars lost their best golfers from a year ago to college programs -- Cody Bell to Northern Iowa and Brigham Stewart to Butler -- but the youngish Cougars could have another formidable team this season.

"I think we'll be able to make it to state," Moore remarked. "I think we'll still have a pretty solid season."

Sophomore Cole Murdock shot a 5-over 77 for Kennedy and tied Ben Sagers of Xavier for second place Monday.

Sophomore Davis Sutton shot a 78 for the Cougars and tied Matt Junge of Xavier and Jake Sevcik of Linn-Mar for fourth place.

Junior Quinn Jamrok shot a 79 for Kennedy and finished in a four-way tie for seventh place with Dominic Rodriguez of Washington and two others.

"We played well. Not well enough, but well enough for today," Kennedy Coach Mark Wilden said. "Having Harrison back definitely helped.

"I was hoping to shoot 310 and we did that. But it's a growth thing, where we want to do better the next time."

Kennedy has one of the top golf programs in the state and Wilden thinks the Cougars could compete for high honors again this year.

"They're so young they don't know how good they are," he said. "The sophomores don't know how good they are. Yeah, we can be a contender."

Linn-Mar, which finished third at the Super Meet last Thursday, placed third again Monday on its home course. Washington tied Dubuque Wahlert for fifth place. Jefferson finished ninth and Prairie was 10th.

LINN-MAR INVITATIONAL
At Hunters Ridge
Par 72

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Kennedy               309
2. Xavier                   315
3. Linn-Mar               320
4. Cedar Falls           324
5. Washington          331
Wahlert                  331
7. Iowa City West     332
8. Iowa City High      342
9. Jefferson              343
10. Prairie                 354
11. Davenport Central  356
12. Dubuque Senior   369

TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS

1. Harrison Moore, Kennedy     75
2. Cole Murdock, Kennedy       77
Ben Sagers, Xavier               77
4. Davis Sutton, Kennedy       78
Matt Junge, Xavier              78
Jake Sevcik, Linn-Mar         78
7. Alex Braun, Cedar Falls     79
Quinnn Jamrok, Kennedy    79
Dominic Rodriguez, Wash    79
Drew Haas, IC West          79

METRO TEAMS

KENNEDY: Harrison Moore 75, Conner Koberg 80, Davis Sutton 78, Cole Murdock 77, Ross Grekoff 87, Quinn Jamrok 79.

XAVIER: Matt Junge 78, Ben Sagers 77, Robbie Thinnes 80, John Ingwersen 80, John Drahozal 89, Jordan Even 83.

LINN-MAR: Trevor McCann 80, Elliott Siefert 85, Kile Bean 83, Jason Gingrich 82, Drew McGovern 80, Jacob Sevcik 78.

WASHINGTON: Dominic Rodriguez 79, Matt Strand 82, Austin Bergstrom 87, Zach Gothard 84, Jon Landis 86, Max Claassen 91.

JEFFERSON: Zach Denny 84, Mitch Willems 83, Ben Otis 84, Jake Van Oort 92, Michael Loboda 97, Jake Hanson 98.

PRAIRIE: Matt Edl 84, Drew Digman 90, Blake Seda 94, Cooper Reittinger 102, Cal Clark 86, Mitch Lorenz 97.