The Cedar Rapids Kennedy Cougars have grown weary of finishing second behind Waukee in major golf tournaments.

It happened at the state tournament last year and it happened again Monday at the prestigious Linn-Mar Invitational at Hunters Ridge.

Waukee nipped Kennedy by one shot at the state meet. This time the Warriors trimmed the Cougars by four strokes.

"Waukee is a good team," said Kennedy junior Conner Koberg, who fired an even-par 72 to place second. "I think our team is kind of upset that they beat us again, which gives us a little bit more motivation for the state meet to come here in October."

The state meet will be held at Hunters Ridge in Marion on Oct. 11-12. Kennedy is a lot more familiar with Hunters Ridge than Waukee is, but it didn't matter Monday.

"I don't think anyone really has an advantage," said Koberg. "You have to hit the ball in the fairway and place it. Things can change so quick out here, because there are so many spots that you can get into trouble and drop a few shots here and there."

Waukee won the team championship Monday at 299 behind a 1-under 71 by medalist Tripp Kinney. Kennedy placed second with 303 shots.

"They're disappointed that we didn't win, but second place is pretty good in this field," said Kennedy Coach Mark Wilden.

The Linn-Mar Invitational featured seven teams that finished in the top-12 at the 2012 state meet. The star-studded field included Dowling, Johnston, West Des Moines Valley, Cedar Rapids Xavier and Ames.

Nonetheless, the Cougars did not like playing second fiddle behind Waukee again.

"Definitely," said Wilden. "They're good. There's no doubt about that. Our kids have high expectations, so they're pretty disappointed and down right now.

"But it will serve as motivation. They're going to have to bounce back up. I'm sure we'll get to see Waukee a couple more times before state."

Davis Sutton of Kennedy, Matt Junge of Xavier and Dominic Rodriguez of Cedar Rapids Washington finished in a five-way tie for third place at 1-over-par 73. Jordan Even of Xavier tied for 10th at 4-over 76.

Xavier finished sixth in the team standings. Washington was seventh, Linn-Mar tied for eighth, Prairie placed 10th and Jefferson was 12th.

Koberg had four birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey on the 15th hole when his wedge shot took an unlucky bounce on the edge of the green and landed in water. Without that double-bogey, he might have won the title with a 2-under 70.

"Going into today, I didn't feel good about my swing," he said. "I was kind of pull-hooking it. For some odd reason today, off the tee I hit it well.

"I stayed down on it and tried to punch every tee shot into the middle of the fairway. It worked out for most of the holes, but some holes it didn't. That's just the way it goes, I guess."

Cole Murdock shot a 5-over 77 as the third-best score for Kennedy, but the fourth-best score for the Cougars was an 81.

"We definitely need our fourth scorer to be lower than 81," said Wilden. "If we have to count an 81, then we deserve to be second. They need to be better than that.

"I'm a bit disappointed," he said. "I think every one of them thinks they could have shot better today."

LINN-MAR INVITATIONAL

At Hunters Ridge

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Waukee 299, 2. Kennedy 303, 3. West Des Moines Valley 305, 4. Dowling Catholic 308, 5. Johnston 312, 6. Xavier 313, 7. Washington 322, 8. (tie) Linn-Mar 332, Dubuque Senior 332, 10. Prairie 334, 11. Cedar Falls 342, 12. Jefferson 347, 13. Ames 354, 14. Iowa City High 373.

TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS

Par-72  7,007 yards

1.  Tripp Kinney, Waukee                71

2.  Conner Koberg, Kennedy              72

3.  Davis Sutton, Kennedy               73

Matt Junge, Xavier                  73

Dominic Rodriguez, Washington       73

Jeff Swegle, WDM Valley             73

Aaron DeNucci, Waukee               73

8.  Sam DeBartolo, Dowling              74

9.  Ben Grotnes, WDM Valley             75

10. Jordan Even, Xavier                 76

Parker Howe, Waukee                 76

KENNEDY: Conner Koberg 72, Davis Sutton 73, Cole Murdock 77, Ross Grekoff 81, Seth Nutt 82, Tanner Stewart 87.

XAVIER: Matt Junge 73, Jordan Even 76, Ben Sagers 79, Kellen Gray 85, Luke Winker 86, John Ingwersen 90.

WASHINGTON: Dominic Rodriguez 73, Will Jackson 82, Jake Patterson 83, Evan Jankwietz 84, Frank Lindwall 84, Jabe Gonder 84.

LINN-MAR: Max Thrune 81, Jake Sevcik 82, Owen Vander Velden 82, Jason Gingrich 87, Trevor McCann 89, Elliott Siefert 90.

PRAIRIE: Cooper Reittinger 82, Ryan Doser 83, Cal Clark 84, Mitch Lorenz 85, Colin Vondracek 86, Blake Seda 90.

JEFFERSON: Zach Denny 81, Jake Van Oort 85, Mitch Willems 87, Adam Van Oort 94, Jake Hansen 96, Derrek Brimmer 98.