Eastern Michigan-bound Marquardt makes her mark

Nikki Marquardt committed to her golf shots Monday.

The Stevenson senior then committed ... to Eastern Michigan University.

Quite a day.

“Yeah, it’s a steak dinner tonight,” Marquardt said with a laugh.

A few hours after firing a 2-under-par 33 to earn medalist honors in Stevenson’s season-opening loss to Highland Park at Crane’s Landing in Lincolnshire, Marquardt called EMU women’s golf coach Sandy Wagner and verbally committed to the Division-I Eagles. Eastern Michigan tied its best-ever finish by placing second in the Mid-American Conference championship last spring.

“I picked Eastern because I love the coach,” said Marquardt, who also considered Iowa. “I think it’s a place where I can take my game to the next level and (prepare me) to play professionally after college.”

A varsity golfer since her freshman year, the 5-foot-11 Marquardt had a tremendous summer, winning three tournaments, including a Mid-American Junior Golf Tour tournament in Champaign this month. She carded a pair of birdies Monday, finishing one stroke off two-time state champ Stephanie Miller’s school record for nine holes.

“(The record) comes into your head, and I knew I could do that,” Marquardt said. “I just didn’t drop a few putts coming in. I played really good golf, hitting fairways and greens. I made a few putts, but I still could have made a few more to break the record. So I’ll be chasing that this season.”

“Nikki played really well from green to tee,” said Stevenson coach Brent Mork, whose Patriots shot a 181.

Highland Park (167) was led by Liza Kraff (36) and Kelli Ono (38).

Surya Vijaysankar (46) and Alexia Fidman (49) also broke 50 for Stevenson.