The Durango High School girls golf team battled tough conditions and tough competition in Montrose at the 2026 CHSAA 4A Girls Golf State Championships, but the Demons still managed to make head coach Kirk Rawles proud in his swan song as the Demons’ head coach with a fifth-place finish on Tuesday.
Rawles announced he was retiring at the end of the season in March after coaching the Demons since 2009, and it was senior Jayden Craig and junior Dylan Livingston who led their coach out in style by finishing in the individual top-10 after 18-hole rounds on Monday and Tuesday at The Bridges Golf & Country Club in Montrose.
“Given the weather on Monday, it was just so tough,” Rawles said. “It was like 30-mile-an hour-winds at 7:30 a.m. in the morning, then it started raining halfway through the first hole with all the winds, and it got cut down to 43 degrees. They did a great job trying to manage that.”
The Demons finished fifth in 4A with a team score of 111-over par after two days. Ponderosa easily won the team title at 72-over par. Riverdale Ridge was second at 94-over par, Air Academy was third at 95-over par, and Pueblo West was fourth at 97-over par. Durango has finished inside the top six of 4A in the last four seasons, finishing second in 2023, sixth in 2024 and second in 2025.
Monday’s conditions were so bad that Rawles and the coaches were questioning why CHSAA wouldn’t postpone the tee times an hour to let the big squall come through. Players were freezing and were struggling to feel their hands.
In addition to the conditions, players faced a very challenging course at The Bridges. The slope rating of a golf course is an indicator of how tough that course is. An average slope rating of a golf course is 113, and the rating can range from 55 to 115. The slope rating at The Bridges was a 147.
The greens weren’t rolling too quickly, but Rawles estimated that a third of the pins were tucked or tough to hit at in normal conditions, not cold and 30-mile-an-hour winds like on Monday. The winds on Monday made players lay up and had to hit different clubs than anticipated.
There were much better conditions on Tuesday, according to Rawles, with maybe 15 mile-an-hour winds and sunny and overcast skies. The difficulty on Day 2 for Rawles was following all of his players. The Durango players’ tee times on Day 2 were spread out based on their finishing positions of Day 1, so that made it tough for Rawles to coach and see all his players since each coaching staff only had one golf cart.
Despite the tough conditions, Craig led the Demons with a sixth-place finish at 32-over par to finish her high school career. She shot a fantastic 15-over par in tough conditions on Monday and then shot 17-over par on Tuesday. Ponderosa’s Kaylee Meyering won the 4A individual title at 11-over par.
Craig began her state championship on the back nine on Monday, shooting 10-over with only one par, before making the turn. She finished Day 1 strongly with a birdie on the par-4 sixth, five pars, a bogey and two double bogeys.
“The weather got better,” Rawles said about Craig’s first round. “I gave her a pair of mittens to wear to try to get past all the cold and trying to feel the club and everything. It was just a matter of hanging on in the first nine holes. Then it kind of quit raining, and we got going. She played pretty solid that first day.”
Craig was hoping to break 80 in the more favorable conditions on Day 2, but she ended up disappointed with an 88 (17-over par). Craig finished Day 2 with two birdies, three pars, eight bogeys, four double bogeys and a triple bogey.
Rawles said Craig struggled to put consecutive good shots together on Tuesday. He wishes he could have walked with Craig to offer her guidance, but the Demons were so spread out and the coaches only had one cart. Rawles said the goal for Craig was to make first-team all-state by finishing in the top 10, and Craig did that on a very challenging course.
Junior Dylan Livingston finished in a four-way tie for ninth at 35-over par after she shot 15-over par on Day 1 and 20-over par on Day 2.
On Day 1, Livingston finished with two birdies, five pars, seven bogeys, three double bogeys and a quadruple bogey on the par-4 eighth, where she hit the ball into a hazard and unsuccessfully hit it out and into the water.
The tough wind conditions affected Livingston more than other players because of how high she hits the ball. The higher the ball flight, the more time the wind can affect it.
Rawles was proud of her state tournament, especially after fighting through a knee tweak. On Day 2, she finished with a birdie on the par 5 fourth, four pars, eight bogeys, two double bogeys and three triple bogeys. Livingston should be the leader of next year’s team as a senior.
“She needs to play in a lot of junior golf events through the summer,” Rawles said about Livingston. “She needs to get out there and play against some of the big dogs around the state and just keep learning. Participation and playing in a lot of tournaments will get her settled down. She’ll keep continuing to improve in figuring out how to manage her game.”
Senior Riley Harms finished tied for 29th at 47-over par. It was a tough Day 1 for Harms at 30-over par, since she was freezing in the cold conditions. On Day 2, she got off to a better start with three pars. She tripled the par-3 fourth, but Rawles took the blame with a bad piece of advice on club selection, resulting in Harms hitting the ball over the green and in a tough position.
Harms finished her second round 17-over par with seven pars, six bogeys, four double bogeys and one triple bogey. Rawles thought she got unlucky with some of her lies after hitting some great golf shots.
Sophomore Kierstin Maycock showed her perseverance in her first state appearance, shooting 56-over par to finish tied-40th. Maycock isn’t the longest hitter, so the tough conditions made her have to lay up a lot. Rawles is proud of all the experience she got this year, and he knows Maycock will get stronger and better with practice in the summer.
What’s certain about next year’s team is that Rawles, Craig and Harms will not be on it. What’s not certain is who will be coaching the Demons, with the school still looking for applicants.
“If anybody reads this article, and they want a life-changing experience, they should look at applying to be a golf coach,” Rawles said. “It’s been a great run for me. I learned a lot being around all these athletes.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
