{"id":124282,"date":"2026-04-12T10:13:06","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T16:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortezs-amita-crowley-headed-to-minnesota-to-play-golf-at-st-olaf-college\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T10:13:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T16:13:06","slug":"cortezs-amita-crowley-headed-to-minnesota-to-play-golf-at-st-olaf-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortezs-amita-crowley-headed-to-minnesota-to-play-golf-at-st-olaf-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez\u2019s Amita Crowley headed to Minnesota to play golf at St. Olaf College"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Amita Crowley is surrounded by family and friends as she officially commits to play golf at St. Olaf College. Photo courtesy of Robert Laymon<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

CORTEZ \u2013 On a late March evening at the driving range, a pair of golfers cut silhouettes against the setting sun. Senior Amita Crowley, the Panthers\u2019 top golfer, pauses to help a younger teammate with her swing. The moment reflects the standard she has set throughout her career.<\/p>\n

Be a good teammate first.<\/p>\n

Golf\u2019s solitary nature and challenges \u2013 the course, the conditions, the mental grind \u2013 can isolate players. Crowley has faced it all, yet she continues to mentor the next wave of Montezuma-Cortez golfers while leading from the front.<\/p>\n

Head coach Jarrett Watkins calls Crowley\u2019s team-first mentality priceless, and the entire program has benefited.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like having another coach out there,\u201d Watkins said. \u201cThe girls listen to her because they see all the work that she\u2019s put in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crowley\u2019s high school career won\u2019t come to a close when she collects her diploma next month. On Tuesday, she officially committed to play collegiate golf at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.<\/p>\n

The Division III college, located 40 miles south of the Twin Cities, competes in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. St. Olaf drew Crowley\u2019s attention because of its academic rigor and strong sense of community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were following me through social media, and I had a chance to visit and talk with Coach Brian Stevens, and he really showed me that he cares for his team and me as a person,\u201d Crowley said. \u201cIt was a really welcoming environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crowley and classmate Afton Unrein moved into the Nos. 1 and 2 spots entering their junior year, but Crowley had already established herself among the top players in her classification as a freshman. Her scores regularly settled in the upper 70s and low 80s. She placed 13th at the Class 3A state tournament as a sophomore, then improved to a tie for 11th after the Panthers moved to Class 2A.<\/p>\n

\"Montezuma-Cortez
Montezuma-Cortez senior Amita Crowley is surrounded by family and friends as she commits to play golf at St. Olaf College. Photo courtesy of Robert Laymon<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Much of Crowley\u2019s growth has come from improvements on the mental side of the game, along with added physical strength that has increased her driving distance. That progress has helped her rebound from early struggles this season, posting strong back nines to earn top-five individual finishes in Delta and Farmington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not losing myself in my rounds \u2013 I\u2019ll say \u2018that didn\u2019t go well,\u2019 but then readjust and go from there,\u201d Crowley said.<\/p>\n

Her development was also shaped by the staff at Conquistador Golf Course, who mentored her throughout her junior golf career.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019d be where I am at all without Micah and Anett Rudosky and former coach Travis Wright,\u201d Crowley said. \u201cThey\u2019ve created such a positive environment and really show that they care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crowley has carried those lessons forward, passing them along to her teammates and helping the M-CHS girls golf program continue its run of producing strong teams and individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of team bonding this year, and we\u2019ve been really focused on making each other better,\u201d Crowley said.<\/p>\n

As for what comes next, collegiate golf has always been part of the plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was never a feeling that I had to go Division I,\u201d Crowley said. \u201cI just wanted to continue to play the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll look to make an impact for the Oles this fall after the team placed seventh in the MIAC, while pursuing a degree in economics with a focus on finance.<\/p>\n

With just a few weeks remaining in her high school career, Crowley and Unrein hope to join an illustrious list of four-year state qualifiers and, more important, savor the memories of their time in orange and black.<\/p>\n

Unrein, who plans to attend Weber State University this fall to study radiology, summed it up: \u201cWe\u2019re sad to see our time together coming to an end, but St. Olaf\u2019s gaining a great teammate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Panthers\u2019 No. 1 girls player signs with Division III school<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":124283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6313],"tags":[38,39,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-124282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-2","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124282"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=124282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}