SMSU Athletics

January 5, 2012 – Hoof Prints Article

Hello Mustang Fans!

On Monday, our students will be back on-campus and the spring semester underway. The SMSU winter sports have been practicing since December 27 with men’s and women’s basketball competed earlier in the week. Beginning on Monday, our spring sports begin their pre-season practice schedule. The Mustang Athletics Department will have eight sports (men’s, women’s and wheelchair basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball, tennis and women’s golf) in-season. It is an exciting time at SMSU as we begin the spring semester and the second half of the athletic schedule.

Also coming up in 2012 are two events hosted by the Mustang Booster Club, the Gold Rush Raffle (February 24) and the David and Carol Drown SMSU Golf Classic (Friday, June 15 & Saturday June 16). Please put these two events down on your calendar, today.

I am proud to announce our student-athletes posted a cumulative grade point average (gpa) just above a 3.0 for the fall semester. This is a great accomplish that took much hard work and dedication by our student-athletes and coaching staff. The SMSU Department of Athletics has set a goal of attaining a cumulative 3.1gpa each semester. I would like to commend our student-athletes and coaches for great effort this fall semester as we continue to work towards the high standard of academic excellence we have set as a department.

We are less than three weeks away from the SMSU Softball Team hosting its Winter Skills Clinic on January 22 and 29 at the PE Gym in Marshall.

The camp, under the direction of first-year head coach Missy Bruggeman and the SMSU softball team, is open for individuals in grades 2-12. The Youth Clinic is for individuals in grades 2-6 and is from 1:00 to 2:00 pm both days.  The Offensive/Defensive Clinic is for grades 7-12 and will take place from 2:15 to 4:15 pm., while the Pitching/Catching Clinic is also for grades 7-12 and is from 4:30 to 5:30 pm.

The cost is $30 for the two Youth Clinics, $30 for the two Pitching/Catching Clinics and $40 for the two Offensive/Defensive Clinics. Individuals can sign-up for both the pitching/catching and offensive/defensive clinics.

For all your news and information on SMSU Athletics, go to SMSUmustangs.com.

Upcoming Schedule of Events for Mustang Athletics:

The SMSU Men’s Basketball team (6-6, 5-3 NSIC) will play host to their NSIC travel partner, MSU Mankato (4-8, 3-5 NSIC) this Saturday at 6:00pm in the R/A Facility. The Mustangs went 1-1 on their NSIC road trip earlier this week. SMSU is coming off a tough 67-75 loss to MSU Moorhead on Tuesday. Monday, the men started off the road trip with a win at the University of Minnesota Crookston.

The SMSU Women’s Basketball team (5-7, 4-4 NSIC) went 2-0 this week beating two very good teams on the road in Crookston and MSU Moorhead. The Mustangs will welcome MSU Mankato (9-3, 5-3 NSIC) to the R/A Facility on Saturday with the game beginning at 4:00 pm.

Both the Mustang Women’s and Men’s Basketball teams begin a very important three game NSIC homestand against MSU Mankato, the University of Mary and Northern State.

Mustang Wrestling will host Dakota Wesleyan (SD) next week on January 11 at 4:00pm in the PE Gym, while Wheelchair Basketball will head to Champaign, IL on January 21 to play four games in two days at the University of Illinois.

Good luck to all of our teams this week and Believe in Brown!

Congratulations to Paul Muecke who provided the correct answer to last week’s Mustang Hoofprints Question: How many of the SMSU Athletic Department coaches and/or staff members were Division III student-athletes? Paul provided all eight coaches and staff members as well as the Division III institutions they attended.

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

What year did SMSU drop Track & Field as a sponsored sport from Mustang Athletics?

The first person to email me at MustangHoofPrints@SMSU.edu with the correct answer to this question will receive an SMSU t-shirt.