SMSU Athletics

March 8, 2012 – Hoof Prints Article

Hello Mustang Fans!

Last Sunday was an exciting day for the SMSU Men’s Basketball team as they brought home the NSIC Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship trophy for the first time in the school’s history. The Mustangs beat MSU Moorhead in the NSIC Championship game and will face the Dragons again in the first round of the NCAA Central Region Men’s Basketball Tournament this Saturday.

SMSU earned the #4 seed in the Central Region. The Mustangs will play MSUM this Saturday at 8:30 MST at the #1 seed and host school, the Colorado School of Mines (Lockridge Arena) in Golden, CO. If SMSU should win Saturday’s contest, they will face the winner of the #1 Colorado School of Mines and the #8 seed Augustana College on Sunday at 7:30 pm MST. The NCAA Central Region Championship game will be held on Tuesday, March 13 at 7:00 pm MST.

The Marshall Radio Station and the SMSU Alumni Association are giving Mustangs fans a pair of pre-game celebrations in Golden, CO to help cheer the Mustangs on to victory. On Saturday morning, Marshall Radio, along with Slumberland, D & G Excavating, Bremer Bank and Buffalo Ridge Concrete, will be sponsoring a pre-game breakfast buffet for all SMSU fans, parents and alumni from 8:00 am to 10:00 am MST.  The event will be held at the team’s hotel, Residence Inn Denver West with radio show “Saturday Morning Mustang” on the air live from the event starting at 8:00 am MST. The coaching staff and players from the Mustang Men’s Basketball team will be at the breakfast early before leaving for their scheduled 10:00 am MST practice time at Lockridge Arena.

On Saturday night, the SMSU Alumni Association will be holding a pregame celebration at the Old Capitol Grill located at 1122 Washington Ave., in Golden, CO, from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm MST.  The event is also open to all SMSU alumni, fans and parents.  An appetizer buffet and cash bar will be available for all fans. Thank you to all our sponsors of these two events bringing the SMSU Tradition of the Brown and Gold to Golden, CO.

Justin Reinsma will be representing the SMSU Wrestling team (10-6, NSIC 3-4)  in this weekend’s NCAA Division II National Wrestling Championships at Colorado State University - Pueblo. Reinsma finished in fourth-place at 133 pounds in the NCAA Super Region 3 Wrestling Tournament at St. Cloud State University qualifying him for the national tournament. Justin’s first match will be at 9:00 am MST this Friday.

The SMSU Wheelchair Basketball team who went 7-12 in regular season, is competing in the NIWBT Championships in Champaign, IL this week. The Mustangs will take on the University of Alabama in the first round of the tournament tomorrow at 7:00 pm.

Good luck to Mustang Wrestler, Justin Reinsma, the SMSU Wheelchair Basketball team and the SMSU Men’s Basketball team in this weekend’s national competition!

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

Upcoming Schedule of Events for Mustang Athletics:

The SMSU Baseball team (4-3) has gone 3-3 on the Mustang’s spring trip to Tucson, AZ, losing to Concordia St. Paul twice and William Penn once with wins against Concordia St. Paul, Southern Vermont and William Penn. The Mustangs will conclude their spring trip schedule by playing St. John’s tomorrow at 10:00 am, Concordia St. Paul on Friday at noon and St. Ambrose at 11:00 am on Saturday. Southwest will return to Minnesota to play Northern State in a non-conference contest in the Metrodome on March 16 at 9:00 am.

The SMSU Softball team is off to a 4-2 start in Kissimmee, FL, competing in the Rebel Spring Games during their annual spring trip where the Mustangs are scheduled to play 14 games through March 12. SMSU won their first four games of the trip with a 1-0 win against #13 Saginaw Valley State. The Mustangs lost a pair of games 0-2 to Ashland and Holy Family on Tuesday.

Southwest has eight games left on the schedule in Florida beginning today against Ferris State at 10:00 am and Holy Family at 12:00 pm. The Mustang will return to non-conference on March 17 at Wayne State College when they take on Northern State at 1:00 pm and Wayne State at 3:00 pm.

The SMSU Women’s Golf team competed in the first round of the nine-team Classic Club Invite at the Classic Club in Palm Desert, CA. It is a 36-hole tournament with the final round beginning at 9:30 am tomorrow morning. Other teams competing in the Classic Club Invite include Ashland (Ohio); California (Pa.); Concordia-St. Paul; Illinois-Springfield; Minnesota State, Mankato; St. Cloud State; Upper Iowa and Western New Mexico.

Following the tournament in California, SMSU will compete at the 22-team Lion Invite hosted by Texas A&M-Commerce at Tanglewood Resort Golf Club in Pottsboro, Texas, on March 12-13.

The SMSU Tennis team (0-6, 0-2 NSIC) will return to action on March 17 with a non-conference match against Concordia-Moorhead in St. Cloud, MN.

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

No one was able to provide the correct answer to last week’s Mustang Hoofprint’s Question: What Mustang Softball player recorded the highest single season batting average at SMSU? Jill Gaetze hit .432 (60-132) in 1992 for the Mustangs recording the highest single season batting average of any SMSU Softball player to date.

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

How many times has the SMSU Men’s Basketball team played the same opponent in the first round of the NCAA Central Region Basketball Tournament and their last game of the NSIC Men’s Basketball Tournament?

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