In a match as tight as size-9 shoes on size-10 feet, Iowa City High claimed the CRANDIC boys golf meet by one stroke over Kennedy and two strokes over Xavier on a sun-kissed Ellis Park course Tuesday.

Xavier boasted the medalist with a 73 by junior Matt Junge, but the Little Hawks’ Zach MacMillan came in second at 74 and Grant Simpson was third at 75. Kennedy’s top finisher, senior Harrison Moore, also tied Simpson for third.

Iowa City High put three golfers in the top 10 en route to its team total of 311, while Kennedy (312) and Xavier (313) placed two each. And that was the difference.

The three frontrunners far outdistanced the others in the eight-team field, with Washington the best of the rest at 329.

“I’m  disappointed we didn’t win, but not unhappy,” said Kennedy Coach Mark Wilden. “We’ve won this tournament before with a 312, so that’s a good score.”

He noted that his young Cougars, with a quartet of sophomores, beat Iowa City High by a stroke last week at a nine-hole meet on the same course. So turnabout is fair play.

“This was good for us,” the veteran coach said. “The kids realize they’re not going to win every time they go out. It will help get ‘em in focus.”

One of his underclassmen, Conner Koberg, carded a 78 to tie for sixth. Another, Cole Murdoch, just missed the top 10 with a 79.

For his part, Xavier Coach Tim O’Brien said having Junge top the field was a stellar accomplishment. “There are a lot of quality players here today,” he said. “And Matt shot really well.”

Also scoring well for Xavier were senior Robbie Thinnes with a 77, good for fifth place, and junior Ben Sagers with a 79 that tied for 11th.

“Our top three showed great leadership,” O’Brien said. “To have three players shoot in the 70's at Ellis is quite an accomplishment.”

Junge, who had four birdies to along with three  bogies, would have been under par for the day had it not been for a breakdown on the par-3 11th hole. He hit his tee shot into a bunker and then 4-putted for a double bogey.

Otherwise, he said, “I was putting real well today. It was the best part of my game.”

Thinnes was equally consistent. He made two birdies but had no 3-putts, no double-bogeys and no penalties.

Sagers, on the other hand, was 5-over after six holes, then scrambled back with eight pars in a row. He would have cracked the top 10 had he not bogeyed the 15th and double-bogeyed the 18th.

Then there was Saints junior John Ingwersen, who carded an 86 the hard way. He was 12-over after the first five holes and shot a 50 after nine. He played his last 13 holes at 2-over, carding an even par 36 on the back nine.

For Kennedy, Moore was a model of consistency throughout the day after starting out with two bogeys. He paired a 39 on the front nine with a 36 on the back.

Teammate Koberg could easily have matched him except for a nine on the par-5 12th hole.

“You can say, ‘What if,’ but that’s what happens in golf,” said Cougar Coach Wilden.

While Jefferson and Washington finished out of the running in the team standings, each did claim a golfer in the top 10. J-Hawk senior Ben Otis and Warrior junior Dominic Rodriquez both fired a 78, good for a tie for sixth place.

CRANDIC

At Ellis Golf Course, Par  72

TEAM SCORING
1.  Iowa City High 311, 2. Kennedy  312, 3. Xavier 313, 4. Washington 329, 5. Iowa City West 332. 6.  (tie) Jefferson, Linn-Mar 337, 8. Prairie  345.

TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS
1.Matt Junge (CRX) 73, 2. Zach MacMillian (ICH) 74,  3. (tie) Grant Simpson (ICH), Harrison Moore (CRK) 75, 5. Robbie Thinnes (CRX)  77; 6. (tie) Ben Otis (CRJ), Conner Koberg (CRK), Noah Federici (ICW), Dominic  Rodriguez (CRW), Matt Goddard (ICH) 78.

TEAM RESULTS
IOWA CITY HIGH (311): MacMillian 74, Simpson 75,  Goddard 78, Brady Swenning 84, Andrew Hein 89, Ryan Young  89.

KENNEDY (312): Moore 75, Koberg 78, Cole  Murdock 79, Landon Crippes 80, Davis Sutton 81, Ross Gerhoff  83.

XAVIER (313): Junge 73, Thinnes 77, Ben Sagers  79, Jordan Even 84, John Drahozal 85, John Ingwersen  86.

WASHINGTON (329): Rodriguez 78, Jon Landis 82,  Zach Gothard 83, Matt Strand 86, Evan Jankwietz 88, Austin Bergstrom  94.

IOWA CITY WEST (332): Federici 78, JD Goodfellow 79,  Joe Scott 86, Dominic Muzzin 89, Drew Haas 90, Tyler Whitehead  91.

JEFFERSON (337): Otis 78, Zach Denny 80, Mitch Willems 86, Jake Van Oort 93, Michael Loboda 93, Jake Hanson  99.

LINN-MAR (337): Jason Gingrich 82, Trevor McCann 82,  Jacob Sevcik 84, Kile Bean 89, Bobby Charlton 89, Austin Banks  96.

PRAIRIE (345): Matt Edl 82, Cal Clark 87, Mitch  Lorenz 88, Blake Seda 88, Drew Digman 90, Harry Knutson  92.