The University of Detroit Mercy will induct seven new members into its Hall of Fame on Jan. 28-29, 2017. The Class of 2017 includes one team, the 2004 Women's Soccer Team, standout student-athletes in Teresa Emery (Softball), Tony Kaseta (Baseball), Shireese Statin (Track & Field), Jack Szczepaniuk (Track & Field) and Mark Sommerfeld (Golf), along with former women's basketball coach and women's athletic coordinator Susan Kruszewski. As we count down to Hall of Fame weekend, DetroitTitans.com will feature each of the seven inductees.
 
DETROIT (1/28/2017) -- The University of Detroit Mercy men's golf team did one thing in the 2000's – WIN – and Mark Sommerfeld helped cement the Titans' status of being one of the dominant programs in the Horizon League and at the mid-major level.
 
The Titans won five Horizon League championships in the 2000's and Sommerfeld was a part of two of those titles, while also playing outstanding as an individual and becoming maybe the greatest golfer the conference has ever seen.
 
"He was such a perfectionist and was always looking at ways to improve," said former head men's golf coach Mark Engel. "He was always hitting extra balls, always at the practice green. It could be 100 degrees outside, he would still be working on his game. It is nice to see all that hard work pay off with such a great honor."
 
He was a four-time All-Horizon League honoree, including the conference's Newcomer of the Year as a freshman and the Player of the Year as a sophomore, junior and senior. He was the first Titan to ever receive All-Conference accolades in all four of his seasons and is one of just two golfers in league history to be selected the Player of the Year three times.
 
He finished his career as the all-time leader in scoring average (73.56) – now second in school history - and holds three of the top single-season averages in Titan history, including first with a 72.33 as a senior, third with a 73.23 as a junior and eighth with a 73.84 as a sophomore.
 
"The Horizon League coaches vote for the Player of the Year and coaches are not allowed to vote for their own players so to win three straight, that just shows you what the other coaches in the league thought about him," said coach Engel.
 
He was part of two Horizon League Championship teams and NCAA Regional participants as the Titans won the 2005 and 2007 HL titles during his time. In 2007, he helped the Titans win the title by an incredible 16 strokes.
 
"Winning the Horizon League Championship and receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA West Regional at Notre Dame's Warren Golf Course in 2005 was one of my most memorable moments," Sommerfeld referenced in an interview with the Horizon League.
 
He always played big at the league championships and is one of just two Titans to earn three All-Tournament accolades, which is given to a golfer who places in the top seven.
 
In the two championship seasons, he claimed seventh as a freshman with a 223 (75, 72, 76) and as a junior in 2007, he was third with a 222 (74, 72, 76). Statistically, his best HL performance was in 2006 when he posted a 211 (69, 69, 73) with a pair of 3-under 69's for a share of third.
 
"I had other coaches come by and joke with me after his sophomore year and asking me if he was graduating already," said coach Engel. "He was a great player for us."
 
Sommerfeld also won three events in his four years – tied for the most in the last 20 seasons of men's golf - capturing the 2007 Fort Lauderdale Classic, the 2008 First Market Bank Intercollegiate and the 2008 Titans Invitational.
 
For his first win, he went under par in both rounds, carding a 1-under 70 in round one and a 5-under 66 in round two for a four-stroke victory. In 2008, he fired another pair of rounds under par with a 3-under 69 and a 2-under 69, but it was his clutch eight-foot putt on the final hole that sent him to a playoff. On the first playoff hole, he won knocking in a birdie. He then led the team to a win at the Titan Invitational recording a 213 (69, 70, 74) for a one-shot triumph.
 
He also finished with a school record 23 top-10 efforts and tallied 38 rounds in his career at par or better. 
 
"He was so consistent out there on the golf course. There were times just like everyone goes through where he was not at his best, but he always grinded it out and he would still be among the leaders at the end," added Engel.
 
It was not only in his Titan uniform that he played his best, but he was also one of the top amateur players in Canada and competed in a number of prestigious events in the US Amateur Public Links, Canadian Amateur and US Amateur.
 
"Competing in the Canadian Am is always a special week," Sommerfeld said in an interview in 2007. "Being from Canada, it is the closest to home of the national championships I have the chance to compete for. I knew I had the ability to compete with the best amateurs in the world, but finally being in the thick of things is something I will always look back on.  The US Amateur taught me that I have the game to compete with the best, but that I have lots of hard work to do in order to be among the best of the best."
 
The only four-time team MVP in school history, he was also the model student-athlete earning GCAA All-American Scholar accolades and was the Detroit Mercy President's award winner as a senior in 2008. In 2006, he was also invited to attend the NCAA Leadership Conference.
 
"I was extremely honored to represent the University of Detroit Mercy, but I wasn't sure what to expect before I arrived at the conference," said Sommerfeld.
 
"Everything about the conference made it one of the best experiences of my life, not only as a student-athlete, but as a person.  I learned so much about myself and how to interact with others in social, athletic, and professional environments.  It was a great personal building experience that I will never forget."
 
"He was the leader of the team," said coach Engel. "He was a good teammate on the course, in the weight room, conditioning, at the range, he was the guy everyone looked up to."
 
Sommerfeld was a late signee in the 2004 recruiting period as he weighed scholarship offers from plenty of Division I schools, including a number of programs in the south, but Detroit Mercy was the right fit for him for academics and athletics.
 
"It was close to home and it offered the business program I was looking for as well as the opportunity to play for a golf team with the ability to advance to NCAA Regionals," added Sommerfeld.