SMSU Athletics

December 13, 2012 – Hoof Prints Article

Hello Mustang Fans!

Good news from Mustang Athletics! Our Director of Student-athlete Academic Affairs, Ross Webskowski, puts together an annual report showing the academic and retention results of all student-athletes from the previous academic year. Ross checks the enrollment status of all current and former student-athletes to measure the SMSU Department of Athletics retention rate from year to year.

I am proud to announce Mustang Athletics had an 89% retention rate from 2011-12 to 2012-13, and our student-athletes earned a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.02 during the 2011-12 academic year. Our student-athletes, coaches, faculty and staff members have worked hard and deserve recognition for reaching these all-time highs in retention and cumulative GPA. Thank you to our SMSU Student-athletes for balancing a rigorous academic and athletic schedule while achieving at a high level in the classroom.

The SMSU Department of Athletics will be hosting a post-game social at Skewes Jewelry following the Mustang Women’s and Men’s Basketball games this Saturday, December 15. This is a great opportunity for Mustang Fans to gather after the games, share in some appetizers and beverages and possibly get some Christmas shopping done for the family. Skewes Jewelry will be donating a percentage of each purchase made that Saturday back to the SMSU Athletic Scholarship Fund. Please join us after the game to share in the holiday spirit!

The next Mustang Booster Club event is the 10th Annual Gold Rush Raffle to be held on Friday, February 22, 2013, at the SMSU Conference Center. Please mark your calendars now for this great mid-winter social event. Gold Rush Raffle Tickets will be available in the next couple of weeks!

Each Wednesday, the Mustang Booster Club hosts its weekly luncheon over the noon hour. This is an opportunity for you to bring a colleague out to the Pizza Ranch for great food and to listen to our head coaches provide a weekly update on the progress of our teams. The Booster Club Luncheons are a relaxing environment and will give you a chance to meet and get to know our boosters, student-athletes, coaches and staff members at SMSU.

For all the information on the Mustang Booster Club Luncheons and SMSU Athletics, please go to SMSUmustangs.com.

This Week in Mustang Athletics:

The SMSU Wrestling team was busy last weekend continuing its dual and open tournament schedule. Last Saturday, the Mustangs scored a season-high 43 points in a dual match win over Waldorf College, IA. SMSU fell into a 0-3 hole, when Travis Borchert fell by decision to Bo Bettinson. The Mustangs would rebound with eight straight bout victories, including three straight pins by Justin Reinsma, Ethan Hildebrandt and Beau Buysse. Jacob Begin, Blaine Miller and Micah Larson also recorded pins for SMSU to put the Mustangs dual total at six.

SMSU completed the weekend schedule competing against Jamestown College in a dual in Forest City, IA. The Mustangs took nine of the ten matches versus Jamestown to win the dual by a score of 42-3. The Mustangs were led with pins by wrestlers Jake Begin and Micah Larson. Southwest recorded two major decisions and two technical falls in the match. The 42 points was the second highest scoring output of the season.  Mustang Wrestling also sent a number of wrestlers to the BV Open where freshmen, Kyle Begin, shined going 4-0 with two pins to take the 165 pound championship.

The SMSU Women’s and Men’s teams are home this weekend hosting a pair of NSIC opponents in the R/A Facility. The Mustangs will host MSU Mankato on Friday evening before welcoming the Golden Bears of Concordia St. Paul on Saturday. The SMSU Women’s Basketball game on Friday will begin at 6:00 pm and Saturday at 5:00 pm. The Mustang Men’s games will follow respectively at 8:00 pm (Friday) and 7:00 pm (Saturday).

The SMSU Women’s Basketball team (1-7 overall, 0-3 NSIC) are coming off a pair of road losses last weekend at Augustana College and Wayne State. The Mustangs nearly pulled off a victory on Saturday with a 59-61 loss to Wayne State.  The Mavericks come into this weekend’s contests with a 6-0 overall record and 3-0 in the NSIC while Concordia is 3-4 on the season going 1-2 in the NSIC.

The SMSU Men’s Basketball team (5-5, 2-1 NSIC) is coming off a split last weekend losing to Augustana College on Friday and coming back Saturday with a victory in a very tough environment at Rice Auditorium in Wayne, NE. MSU Mankato is 6-1 overall and 2-1 in the NSIC heading into the weekend while the Golden Bears are 1-5 this season and 0-3 in the NSIC. This is a big weekend for both the women’s and men’s teams as they are looking to head into the winter break on a winning note. This will be the final games in the month of December for SMSU, before returning to play in 2013 on the road January 4-5 at Winona State and Upper Iowa.

The SMSU Wheelchair Basketball team used a win over Kansas and two wins over Oklahoma State and Madonna to win the championship at the Madonna Invite last weekend. The Mustangs finished the two-day invite with a perfect 5-0 record. Southwest is now 8-9 on the season.

SMSU defeated Oklahoma State 60-34 in the semifinals on Sunday morning, before closing with a 43-36 victory over Madonna in the championship game.  SMSU has now won six straight games. Congratulations to our Mustang Wheelchair Basketball team. The Mustangs will head south one more time before the new year. SMSU will compete in the Pittsburg State Invite in Pittsburg, KS this weekend playing their first game of the invite on Friday.

I would like to wish all our Mustang teams the best of luck this week!

Go Mustangs!

Congratulations to Josh Junker, who provided the correct answer to the last week’s Mustang Hoofprints Question: Who is the all-time career leader in assists for the SMSU Women’s Basketball team? Michelle Bruns (2001-05) is the all-time leader with 493 career assists.

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

What Mustang Wrestler has the career record for dual matches won?

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