Crookston High School Senior Ava Martin signed a National Letter of Intent to golf at Gustavus Adolphus on Wednesday afternoon at the Crookston High School.
Ava said she is excited to go to the same school that her parents attended. “Both my parents went there, and I probably wouldn’t have thought of going there if I didn’t tour it, because it seems too far away,” said Ava. “But seeing the campus and how welcoming everybody is and their golf program and their psych program, which I’m going to major in, is just, yeah, so everything just seems so perfect.”
Martin has been playing varsity golf since seventh grade and is coming off a trip to the Class A State Golf Tournament last season. Martin shot a pair of 91’s for a tournament total of 182, finishing in 52nd place. Martin capped a solid junior season with a trip to state, which fueled her decision to continue playing in college. “I would say my sophomore year, I was not thinking of golfing or doing anything after high school,” said Martin. “But going to state and everything and seeing my potential, yeah.”
Crookston Pirate Girls Golf Coach Cooper Freije said Martin is an extremely hard worker, and her success isn’t an accident. “Ava’s a really hard worker. She shows up before practice, 30 minutes before, she’s always putting, you don’t really have to tell her what to do, which is the good thing,” said Freije. “She’ll always ask, you know, can I go to the range, can I play nine holes, and it’s really nice as a coach, because she basically does it all herself, so kudos to her on that.”
Martin said she plans on majoring in psychology and would like to be a sports psychologist. “I think I’m going to major in psychological science and probably do a minor in sports psychology because I really want to help athletes and their mental health,” said Martin. “That’s something that I’ve struggled with in the past. So I, yeah, that’s what I’m passionate about.”
Martin has been named to the North Fore Conference All-Conference Golf team, is a member of the Crookston High School Honor Roll, the National Honor Society, Leo Club, and also plays tennis and is currently playing hockey.
She is the daughter of Derek Martin and Jaclyn (Dufault) Tiedemann (who played hockey and golf at Gustavus). Her siblings are Cam and Ruby.
