SMSU Athletics

September 6, 2012 – Hoof Prints Article

Hello Mustang Fans!

The Mustangs were able to get off to a great start last week with all of our teams competing at a high level against quality regionally and nationally ranked teams. SMSU Volleyball and Soccer went 5-0 collectively last week with wins over University of Nebraska Kearney, St. Cloud State, #10 Hillsdale, Regis (CO) and #20 BYU – Hawaii. The Mustang Football played three very good quarters against the 2nd ranked team University of Minnesota Duluth and the SMSU Women’s Golf team began the season with strong performances against some of the top teams in the Central Region.

This Saturday, the Mustang Booster Club will host the 7th Annual Mustang Shootout, presented by Marshall Radio Marshall, will be held at Shooters Sporting Clays east of Marshall. All proceeds from the event go towards the SMSU athletic scholarship fund.

The schedule of events for 2012 is listed below:

Schedule of Events
8:30 a.m. Registration and Sponsor Breakfast Event
9 a.m.  Warm-up Activities
10 a.m.  Sporting Clay Competition (100 birds)
12:30 p.m Lunch
1 p.m.  Champion of Champions Shoot
1:15 p.m. Awards / Prizes

Ways to Participate
Individual Entry • $75
$40 for SMSU Students & Youth (18 & under)
• 100 birds
• Lunch
• Hat and Special Edition Pin
• Registered for Grand Prize - Grill donated by Runnings Farm & Fleet

For more information on how to register for the Mustang Shootout, please call the SMSU Department of Athletics at (507) 537-7271 or go to SMSUMustangs.com and click on the Mustang Shootout icon.

Next weekend, the SMSU Athletics Department will host the 6th Annual Ag Bowl presented by Ralco Nutrition, Inc. The Ag Bowl will feature a new event this year hosting the Scholarship Challenge welcoming FFA teams to the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University competing in the areas of Ag Issues, Marketing and Communications. The winning teams and individuals could earn prizes and scholarships totaling over $13,000. This is an exciting new event that will complement the Ag Bowl festivities leading up to the SMSU Football game versus the University of Mary starting at 5:00 pm.

Congratulations to SMSU sophomore goalkeeper Sonya Smith who was named the NSIC Defensive Player of the Week for her 2-0 record in this past week’s action. Smith, a native of Anoka, Minn., recorded her fifth career shutout against Nebraska-Kearney on Friday, which moved her into second all-time in SMSU history. Smith recorded her second win of the season in a 3-1 non-conference road win over St. Cloud State on Monday. In two starts, Smith has a .929 save percentage and 13 saves, while allowing only one goal.

Smith is currently ranked first all-time in SMSU history with a .876 save percentage and a 1.43 goals against average. Smith has led SMSU to its first ever 2-0 start in 17 seasons. The Mustangs will open the NSIC play this Friday playing host to the University of Sioux Falls beginning at 7:00 pm at the Regional Event Center in Marshall.

The SMSU Football team (0-1, 0-1 NSIC) continues NSIC action this Saturday, traveling to Aberdeen, SD, to battle Northern State University (0-1, 0-1 NSIC). Kickoff is slated for 2:30 pm at Swisher Field. The Mustangs look to build on last week’s performance against UMD another north division foe in NSU.

The #3 ranked SMSU Volleyball team will travel south to Missouri for four matches at the Missouri S&T tournament this Friday and Saturday. The Mustangs (3-0) will open the tournament against Southern Indiana (0-4) at 12:00 pm before taking on Missouri Western State (4-0) at 4:00 pm. On Saturday morning, SMSU will face Emporia State (4-0) at 9:00 am and will close-out the tournament with a match against Northwest Missouri State (2-2) at 1:00 pm. The Mustangs have important Central Region matches against MIAA teams this weekend which will impact the NCAA Regional Ranking later in the season.

The Mustang Women’s Golf team will return to action later this week with the 18-hole Cobber Open on Friday and the 36-hole Concordia Invite on Saturday and Sunday. Both tournaments will be held at Wildflower Golf Course in Detroit Lakes, MN. SMSU is coming off three days of very competitive regional play last weekend going head to head with MSU Mankato before competing against Augustana and USF to close out last week’s schedule.

We are one week away from the return of SMSU Women’s and Men’s Cross Country who will compete for the first time since 1990 in Brookings, SD at the South Dakota State Classic. Head Coach, Nate Wolf, has worked hard to field a men’s team consisting of seven runners and a women’s roster with ten runners. I wish our cross county teams the best of luck as they make their debut next week.

For all the details on these events and Mustang Athletics, please go to SMSUmustangs.com.

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

Go Mustangs!

Congratulations to alum, Nancy Blomme, who provided the correct answer to last week’s Mustang Hoofprints Question: Who was the SMSU Cross Country Head Coach during the 1990 season? Dave Prins was the Women’s and Men’s Cross Country Head Coach at SSU in the last season of NAIA competition.

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

Who holds the career record for the most passing touchdowns for the SMSU Football team?

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