Kennedy High School has a lot of friendly, fun-loving guys on its golf team, but something has been bugging them for nearly 365 days now, ever since they lost the 2012 state tournament to Waukee by a single shot.

"There's definitely a little anger," Davis Sutton said Monday. "It's frustrating to lose by one shot. We're going to definitely give it a run this year."

The Cougars served notice Monday with a dominating performance at the Class 4A district meet on a gorgeous day for golf at Elmcrest Country Club in northeast Cedar Rapids.

Sutton took medalist honors with a 3-over-par 73 and Kennedy captured the team title with an impressive four-man score of 299. Conner Koberg shot 74, Cole Murdock fired a 76 and Seth Nutt also had a 76 as the Cougars placed four guys in the top-10.

Ross Grekoff fired a 77 for Kennedy, which would have helped all the other teams Monday, but his score was not even needed by the Cougars.

"Two-ninety-nine is a good score, but our kids think that we should have been a lot lower," said Kennedy Coach Mark Wilden. "They're hungry. And that's good."

The surging Washington Warriors placed second in the team standings at 310 and the Xavier Saints were third at 313 as Cedar Rapids teams claimed all three spots for the state tournament, which will be held this Friday and Saturday at Hunters Ridge in Marion.

Washington made the state tournament for the first time since 2003. Xavier tied for eighth at state a year ago.

Sutton got off to a rocky start Monday, then settled down. He had a bogey on the first hole, then scrambled for a par on the second hole. "I hooked my first two tee shots today," he said. "I got it out of my system right away."

Sutton is ranked No.1 in the state with a 36.29 average for nine holes, with Jeff Swegle of West Des Moines second at 36.42. Sutton fired a 4-under-par 32 on the front-9 at Hunters Ridge last week and is looking forward to the state meet.

"It's nice having it at Hunters Ridge," he said. "We all know the course really well.

"I'm definitely going to try and give it a go (for the individual title), but that all comes second to the team winning. It's way more exciting and way more important for the team to win."

Wilden thinks his team is primed for a good performance at state this weekend and likes having the meet at Hunters Ridge. "It's definitely good," he said. "I can't see any negatives. We can sleep in our own beds, have our parents feed them. Be relaxed."

Washington had a solid day with Dominic Rodriguez and Jake Patterson leading the way with a pair of 76's. Frank Lindwall shot a 78 and Max Claassen added an 80.

The Warriors had a 22-22 record after the first four meets this season, but they got hot and are 38-5 since then with Claassen back in the lineup. Goettel said the Warriors have not finished lower than second in a meet since late August.

"That's pretty exciting," he said. "It's a bunch of kids that have worked really, really hard. I'm really happy for them, because some of these guys played literally every day all summer. And it's paid off. They're great kids. The chemistry has been really good."

The Xavier Saints claimed the third and final berth in the state meet by four strokes ahead of Ottumwa. John Ingwersen led the Saints with a 76, Luke Winker shot 77, Jordan Even 78, Matt Junge 82 and Ben Sagers 82.

The three other Class 4A district meets will be held Tuesday. Twelve teams will assemble at Hunters Ridge on Friday for a noon start. Saturday's round begins at 9 a.m.

Waukee is ranked No.1 in the state, with Dowling Catholic No.2 and Kennedy No.3.

"I think without a doubt Waukee has to be the team to beat," said Wilden. "Right now they're a few strokes better. They're a strong team, we don't believe that they're unbeatable. Everybody is beatable, but they have to be the favorite."

Kennedy has a young team with six juniors heading to state. Many of them played in the state tournament last year as sophomores when they finished second to Waukee.

"We want to beat Waukee," said Sutton. "This year, with us being juniors, we're thinking we're probably the best team, or if not we're right there. So we're going to give it a run."

4A DISTRICT GOLF
At Elmcrest Country Club
Par 70

Team Standings
(Top 3 Qualify For State)

1. Kennedy 299, 2. Washington 310, 3. Xavier 313, 4. Ottumwa 317, 5. Cedar Falls 327, 6. Linn-Mar 330, 7. (tie) Prairie 339, Marshalltown 339, 9. Iowa City West 341, 10. Iowa City High 350, 11. Jefferson 352, 12. Waterloo West 354, 13. Waterloo East 412.

Top 10 Individuals
(Top 4 Qualify For State)

1. Davis Sutton, Kennedy             73
2. Conner Koberg, Kennedy          74
Michael Schrempf, Marshalltown     74
Matthew Walker, Ottumwa           74
5. Matt Bauman, Cedar Falls          75
6. Cole Murdock, Kennedy            76
Seth Nutt, Kennedy                    76
Dominic Rodriguez, Washington     76
Jake Patterson, Washington         76
John Ingwersen, Xavier               76

Kennedy - Davis Sutton 73, Conner Koberg 74, Cole Murdock 76, Seth Nutt 76, Ross Grekoff 77, Tanner Stewart 83.

Washington - Dominic Rodriguez 76, Jake Patterson 76, Frank Lindwall 78, Max Claassen 80, Joe Slattery 84, Evan Jankwietz 91.

Xavier - John Ingwersen 76, Luke Winker 77, Jordan Even 78, Matt Junge 82, Ben Sagers 82, Kellen Gray 83.

Linn-Mar - Trevor McCann 79, Max Thrune 81, Jake Sevcik 85, Brent Larson 85, Elliott Siefert 87, Jason Gingrich 94.

Prairie - Cooper Reittinger 79, Blake Seda 84, Collin Vondracek 85, Ryan Doser 91, Cal Clark 91, Mitch Lorenz 94.

Jefferson - Mitch Willems 83, Jake Van Oort 87, Zach Denny 89, Derek Brimmer 93, Jake Hansen 94, Adam Van Oort 95.