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Hollidaysburg senior Crosby Denis recently made a verbal commitment to play Division I golf at Duquesne University.
Denis, a star golfer and tennis player for the Lady Tigers, said she began to lean toward golf in her early years of high school.
"Growing up, I always kind of preferred golf over tennis," Denis said. "Just doing tournaments growing up, I always seemed to travel further and do more golf-centered events even though I did do some tennis. Once I started to have junior high tennis matches and starting as a freshman on the golf team, when I had to split, I definitely leaned more toward golf. That's when I prioritized golf."
Denis finished fifth individually at the PIAA Class 3A golf championships last year and also led the Lady Tigers through the PIAA regional and into the team championship.
"I went into states with my goal being to finish in the top 10," Denis said. "Finishing that high on the leaderboard under that amount of pressure, especially in my junior year, was something that was really good for me in my college search."
Denis was named the Altoona Mirror's Frank Kiraly Award winner in May, which is given to the area's top male or female golfer.
"Crosby has been extremely driven to achieve her goal of playing Division I golf. She has worked very hard and committed the time and effort necessary to reach that goal," Hollidaysburg girls golf coach Jill Hileman said. "I feel Duquesne is a great fit for her both academically and athletically. She will have a terrific opportunity to compete as a freshman and make an immediate contribution to the team's success."
Denis said meeting Duquesne's coach made an impact on her.
"When I first talked to Coach (Colleen) Meyers, I just loved the program she was building there," Denis said. "I loved her enthusiasm. On my first visit, I ended up meeting all the girls on the team in the Starbucks in the Hub. They were all so welcoming, and I think after my first visit there and the location, I saw it was a small school but in a big city, so I can have that big-school atmosphere. I just think everything about it was something I knew I wanted."
Duquesne also opens a path for the education she would like to receive.
"Duquesne checks the boxes in every single aspect I was looking for," Denis said. "Academics is a really important thing to me. Since I want to go into sports marketing and sports management, it being right in the city of Pittsburgh literally a block away from the Penguins arena was something I really liked, especially going into the sports world. There are plenty of teams easily accessible, having the Pirates, Penguins, Steelers and the (Riverhounds) soccer team. That was something I really liked."
Denis has helped the Hollidaysburg tennis team evolve into the top area program, and the Lady Tigers beat a WPIAL school in the PIAA playoffs last year for the first time when she ended up winning her match to decide the match.
"I think it will be really different just doing golf," Denis said. "I think my game will definitely grow. I am hoping to do club tennis or tennis of some sort at Duquesne so I can at least practice a little bit, but I do think having more golf will help my game immensely."