SMSU Athletics

October 7, 2010 – Hoof Prints Article
 
Hello Mustang Fans!

Last weekend’s Homecoming and Ag Bowl activities were a huge success. The R/A Facility parking lot was filled with families enjoying the variety of fun activities and great food. Mattke Field in the Regional Event Center saw its largest crowd since the facility opened a little over two years ago with over 3,800 people at the Mustang Football game versus Wayne State.

Events like these cannot be successful without support from the community and various departments on the campus of SMSU. We would like to begin by thanking our sponsors beginning with Ralco Nutrition, Inc. who is the title sponsor of the Ag Bowl. Five years ago, Jon and Brian Knochenmus believed in an idea that a new AD, Head Football Coach and Defensive Coordinator had about creating an event celebrating agriculture in southwestern Minnesota. We would like to thank Jon and Brian, and all the employees at Ralco Nutrition, Inc. who believed in us and helped provide the foundation and vision that has grown the Ag Bowl into the event everyone was able to experience this past weekend.

The SMSU Athletics Department and Ag Bowl are very fortunate to have a host of supporting sponsors who help to create a festive agricultural environment at the event. I would like to thank Hormel Foods, Inc. for sponsoring the BBQ Bonanza food tent, Midwest Ag, Lockwood Motors, the Marshall and RTR FFA Chapters, Cold Stone Creamery and Titan Machinery of Marshall for creating an impressive display of CASE and New Holland tractors surrounding the Regional Event Center. These sponsors have all contributed to the vision and overall atmosphere of the event.

A big thank you goes out to the entire SMSU Athletic Department staff, Maintenance and Grounds Crew, Scheduling and Events Services staff, University Public Safety and Marshall Community Services for their support and help with the 2010 Ag Bowl and Smokefest. Tim Steinbach, Director of Athletic Development, and Jen Hanson and Kacie Weatherly, our graduate assistants, deserve special recognition for the hard work they provided to both the Ag Bowl and Smokefest events. A special thank you to Tim, Jen and Kacie for a job well done!

Each year, the SMSU Athletics Department will highlight an area community creating a week-long event where our staff and student-athletes will visit the town and schools supporting the Division II focus of civic engagement. The town and school district will be invited to the SMSU campus to experience Mustang home athletic events. This year the Mustangs have partnered with the Lakeview School District. SMSU Athletes from all our teams went into the Lakeview classrooms this week to participate in classroom activities and talk with the Lakeview students about their experiences as a student-athlete at SMSU. The Mustangs will feature “Lakeview Day” at our home volleyball and football games this Saturday. All Lakeview students will receive a general admission pass to both Mustang Volleyball and Football events on Saturday.

The Mustang Football team (2-3, 1-3 NSIC) will look to snap a three-game losing streak hosting Minnesota State Moorhead (2-3, 2-2 NSIC) in an NSIC match-up on Saturday, with the kick-off scheduled for 6:00 pm at the Regional Event Center.  After beginning the season 2-0, the Mustangs have dropped three straight games against upper division teams in the NSIC.  MSU Moorhead had its mini two-game winning streak snapped last Saturday with a home loss to #2 UMD. SMSU will be looking to earn its third straight victory over MSUM and its second straight in Marshall.

The #3 SMSU Volleyball team (14-2, 6-1 NSIC) will continue NSIC play this Friday against Augustana (9-7, 5-2 NSIC) at 7:00 pm in the PE Gym. The Mustangs will then welcome the #1 team in the nation, the Wayne State Wildcats (16-0, 7-0 NSIC), on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 pm.  Both games this weekend will be televised live by Midcontinent Communications from Sioux Falls, SD.  Midcontinent is available on cable systems throughout the states of Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota.

The Mustang Women’s Golf team will close out the fall season this weekend with the NSIC Championships on Saturday and Sunday at the Hillcrest Golf Course in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Mustangs are coming off an 8th place finish in the Mustang Invite hosted at the Marshall Golf Club.

The SMSU Soccer team (1-6-1, 0-4-1 NSIC) will return to NSIC action this weekend when they take on Wayne State Friday at 4:30 pm in Wayne, NE, and Augustana on Sunday at 1:00 pm in Sioux Falls. Wayne State (3-3-3, 0-2-3 NSIC) is coming off a string of NSIC match-ups while Augustana (3-5-2, 2-2-1 NSIC) is coming off a weekend of NSIC losses.

Good luck to all of our Mustang Teams this week. Go Mustangs!

Last week, no one provided the correct answer to the Mustang Hoofprints Trivia Question: Last year at the SMSU Celebration of Excellence athletic awards ceremony, what two student-athletes were honored as the SMSU Male and Female Athletes of the Year for 2008-09? Mustang Men’s Basketball player, Ross DeMasi, was the 2008-09 Male Athlete of the Year and Mustang Softball player, Amanda Burkhart, was the Female Athlete of the Year. 

Hoofprints Trivia Question (please put this in a box with the title on top)

This week, Mary Groth was honored by being named Sports Imports/AVCA Division II Women Player of the Week, who was the last Mustang Volleyball player to earn this prestigious award?

The first person to email me at MustangHoofPrints@SMSU.edu with the correct answer to this question will receive an SMSU t-shirt. The winner will be announced on The Saturday Morning Mustang Show between 9:00 am and 10:00 am on 1400AM each week.