SMSU Athletics

November 22, 2012 – Hoof Prints Article

Happy Thanksgiving Mustang Fans!

Congratulations to the #2 SMSU Volleyball team for winning the programs first NSIC Tournament championship last weekend defeating top-seeded Concordia-St. Paul for the first time this season. The win for Mustangs secures the NSIC's automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament beginning next Thursday.  SMSU's Brooke Burmeister, Devin Diedrich, Emily Gutzmer and Mary Groth were all named to the all-tournament team, along with CU's Ashley Murtha and Ellie Duffy also were honored.

SMSU (29-2) entered the week ranked #2 in the national Top 25 poll and #2 in the NCAA Region poll, while CU (27-4) was ranked #1 in both polls. The Mustangs received the #2 seed in the final Central Region ranking announced Sunday evening. This is the ninth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance for Southwest. Concordia-St. Paul earned the No. 1 seed in the Central Region, followed by Southwest Minnesota, Nebraska-Kearney, Central Missouri, Minnesota Duluth, Washburn, Truman State and Wayne State.

The Mustangs will take on seventh-seeded Truman State(27-6) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at 2:30 pm, next Thursday at the Gangelhoff Center on the campus of Concordia-St. Paul. Once again, congratulations to Head Coach Terry Culhane, the coaching staff and our Mustang Volleyball players on a great accomplishment!

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. We will have raffle tickets available towards the end of December for you to purchase. Please mark your calendars now for this great mid-winter social event.

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 Men’s Basketball team (2-2 overall) will continue with its challenging non-conference schedule this week with three games in five days.  The Mustangs began the busy stretch last night by visiting NCAA Division I South Dakota State University (3-2) in Brookings, SD.  SMSU will conclude a busy week on the road with a pair of games at the Northwest Missouri State Bearcat Classic in Maryville, MO.

Southwest will open with a Central Region opponent in the University of Central Missouri (2-0) on Saturday with tip-off set for 1:00 pm. On Sunday, SMSU will take on the host school in the # 24 Northwest Missouri State University (3-0) with the contest beginning at 3:00 pm. Both games will be played at Bearcat Arena on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University.

The SMSU Women’s Basketball (1-3 overall) brought home their first win of the season last weekend earning a victory over Missouri Valley College at the Northwest Missouri State Classic last Saturday. Hope Bonlander led three SMSU scorers in double figures with 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting, while Bree Holleman added 11 points and Rebekah Rolling chipped in with 10 points.

The Mustangs will head south on Sunday to continue with their non-conference schedule competing at NCAA Division I Nebraska-Omaha with tip-off slated for 2:00 pm.

The Mustang Wheelchair Basketball team (3-9 overall) played five games on Friday and Saturday of last week at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater. SMSU went 1-4 on the weekend beating the Universityof Edinboro (PA) in the last game on Saturday, 54-44. The Mustangs will return to action on December 8 when they travel to Omaha, NE to play the Madonna Magic.

The SMSU Wrestling team competed last Saturday in the Cobber Open hosted by Concordia College. Wrestlers were split into two divisions, the gold and maroon division. The gold consisted of upperclass wrestlers, while the maroon division featured freshman.

Justin Reinsma placed fifth, while Micah Larson and Andrew Larson both placed sixth in the gold division. The Mustangs had a strong showing from their freshman as Cody Reed and Stephen Ellis placed second, while Cody Fritz and Giovani Alvarado placed fifth. The Mustangs will return to the mat on November 30 as they head back to Moorhead, MN for a dual with Concordia-Moorhead at 7:00 pm.

I would like to wish everyone safe travels and a Happy Thanksgving!

Go Mustangs!

No one was able to provide the correct answer to last week’s Mustang Hoofprints Question last week: How many adapted sports has SMSU hosted or participated in during the history of the University? SMSU student-athletes with disabilities have completed in wheelchair basketball, rugby and track and field during the school’s history.

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

When was the last time the SMSU Men’s Basketball team beat South Dakota State University prior to last night’s contest?

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