Brigham Stewart had never broken 70 in a competitive round of golf in his life.

He has now, in grand style.

Stewart fired an 8-under-par 64 at Twin Pines Golf Course Thursday and teammate Cody Bell carded a 66 as Kennedy captured the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet by 11 strokes.

Stewart, a senior, has shot 70 and 71 before, but had never dipped into the 60s until he tamed the 5,802-yard layout at Twin Pines on a picture-perfect day for golf.

"I played well. I putted pretty well, the driver was really working," he said. "I'm really happy with a 64.

"This is the first time cracking 70," he said. "Hopefully this is just the start."

The Mississippi Valley Conference begins the boys golf season with its Super Meet with all 14 schools in attendance, so the golfers have to be sharp from the start. The Super Meet is the first of three tournaments to decide the conference champions. The Super Meet scores carry over to the divisional meets on Sept. 12 and Sept. 26.

The Cougars have a huge lead because they were razor sharp.

Stewart had nine birdies and one bogey, when he 3-putted the 17th green.

"I knew I was capable," he said, "and I just had to turn it on. I think today was the day I did it. I'm just looking for a great season, for me and the rest of the team."

Bell supported Stewart with a 6-under 66. He began his round with a birdie, par, eagle (on the 13th) and another birdie, so he was 4-under after four holes.

"That really got me off the blocks and I was able to coast the rest of the way," he said.

Mitchell Martin and Jake Wilding carded even-par 72s for the Cougars, giving Kennedy a four-man total of 14-under 274. That was 11 shots better than Dubuque Hempstead in second place.

Harrison Moore shot a 73 and freshman Conner Koberg had a 76 for Kennedy, but the Cougars were so strong Thursday that they didn't need to count those solid rounds.

Stewart, a senior, has a new driver in his bag and has added about 25 yards to his tee shots. He figures he belted one about 300 yards on Thursday.

"He's grown, he's taller, he's stronger and mature," said Kennedy Coach Mark Wilden. "He's worked hard."

Stewart has worked with Elmcrest Country Club pro Larry Gladson on his swing and mental approach, and he served as the standard-bearer for Zach Johnson's group when Johnson held his fundraiser at Elmcrest last week.

"It was fun to watch him," he said.

Bell hit .400 for Kennedy's baseball team this year, helping the Cougars reach the state tournament, and he didn't start swinging a golf club this season until two weeks ago.

"I'm just starting to get my game together," he said. "It felt really good today and it was really nice to play a round like that."

Kennedy finished second at the Class 4A state golf meet in 2010, continuing a string of strong performances for the Cougars. They placed fourth at state in 2009 and third in 2008.

"It looks like it's time for a first for us," Bell said with a grin.

Kennedy graduated state runnerup Dane Worley and Dan Wasta from last year's club, but appears to have another group that's capable of competing for a state crown.

"I think we have the ingredients to definitely do that," Wilden said. "It's just a matter of timing. You have do it on those two days (at state).

"We're just going to keep knocking on the door and hopefully we'll kick it in."

Jason Beer shot a 3-under-par 69, Ben Sagers had a 2-under 70 and J.P. King shot a 72 to help Xavier place third in the team standings.

Tyler McCann fired a 5-under 67 to take third place in the individual standings and help the Linn-Mar Lions place sixth overall. Trevor Berry carded a 1-under 71 for the Lions.

Prairie got a 3-over 75 from Matt Edl and finished eighth. Dominic Rodriguez shot an even-par 72 to help Washington place ninth. Zach Denny shot a 2-over 74 as Jefferson finished in 10th place.

MVC GOLF SUPER MEET

At Twin Pines
Par-72

Team Standings

1. Kennedy 274, 2. Hempstead 285, 3. Xavier 286, 4. Cedar Falls 287, 5. Iowa City High 294, 6. Linn-Mar 296, 7. Waterloo West 302, 8. Prairie 305, 9. Washington 307, 10. Jefferson 308, 11. Iowa City West 312, 12. Wahlert 329, 13. Dubuque Senior 337, 14. Waterloo East 374.

Top 10 Individuals

1. Brigham Stewart, Kennedy, 64; 2. Cody Bell, Kennedy, 66, 3. Tyler McCann, Linn-Mar, 67; 4. Brad Miehe, Hempstead, 68; 5. (tie) Jason Beer, Xavier, 69; Carson Hillery, Hempstead, 69; 7. (tie) Ben Sagers, Xavier, 70; Grant Simpson, Iowa City High, 70; 9. (tie) Tyler Berry, Linn-Mar, 71; Jacob Bermel, Cedar Falls, 71; Wil Hunemuller, Cedar Falls, 71; Jared Deines, Cedar Falls, 71.

Kennedy (274): Stewart 64, Bell 66, Martin 72, Wilding 72, Moore 73, Koberg 76.
Hempstead (285): Miehe 68, Hillery 69, Breitbach 74, Streff 74, Viertel 79, Vanderlee 82.
Xavier (286): Beer 69, Sagers 70, King 72, Thinnes 75, Junge 78, Keller 80.
Cedar Falls (287): Bermel 71, Hunemuller 71, Deines 71, Braun 74, Skarlis 80, Kloos 82.
Iowa City High (294): Simpson 70, Jordan 74, Duncan 75, Goddard 75, MacMillan 77, Bedford 79.
Linn-Mar (296): Ty McCann 67, Berry 71, Vieth 77, Tr McCann 81, McGovern 84, Gingrich 85.
Waterloo West (302): Jackson 73, T. Richter 75, Holton 76, Rafferty 78, S. Richter 78, Shirey 79.
Prairie (305): Edl 75, Snyder 76, Wagner 77, Digman 77, Smith 84, Kehoe 90.
Washington (307): Rodriguez 72, Bergstrom 75, Strand 80, Gothard 80, Hoyt 88, Classen WD.
Jefferson (308): Denny 74, Lehmkuhl 76, Willems 76, Williams 82, Jourdan 84, Otis 88.
Iowa City West (312): Haas 75, Muzzin 77, Federici 78, Lehnertz 82, Whitehead 85, Boysen 85.
Wahlert (329): Rapp 77, Smith 83, Siegert 83, Glab 86, McCaffery 87, Krueger 87.
Dubuque Senior (337): Jantsch 80, Grant 83, Dawson 85, Foley 89, Weeber 90, Wagner 95.
Waterloo East (374): Wilkinson 79, Frost 92, Scribner 100, Plummer 103, Kirchman 106, Bryant 108.