SMSU Athletics

September 21, 2012 – Hoof Prints Article

Hello Mustang Fans!

Last Saturday, the SMSU Department of Athletics hosted the 6th Annual Ag Bowl presented by Ralco Nutrition, Inc. The Ag Bowl featured the 1st Annual Scholarship Challenge welcoming eight FFA Chapter teams from Minnesota to SMSU competing in the areas of Ag Issues, Marketing and Communications. The winning teams were competing for prizes and scholarships totaling over $13,000. This year’s individual category and overall winners were:

Individual Category Winners
1st Place in Ag Issues  Tracy High School
1st Place in Ag Marketing  Howard Lake-Waverly-Winstead High School
1st Place in Ag Communications Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunberg High School (Team #1)

Overall Awards
1st Place  Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunberg High School (Team #2)
2nd Place  Tracy High School
3rd Place  Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunberg High School (Team #1)

Congratulations to all the teams who competed this year! We had some very talented teams enter this year’s competition and we look forward to increasing the number of teams that compete next year. I would like to thank all of our judges who volunteered their time last Saturday. In Ag Issues, the judges were Chris Patterson (Ralco), Cody Sleiter (SMSU) and Chris Patterson (ADM). In Ag Marketing, the judges were Glenn Bader (Ralco), Todd Denney (ADM) and Megan Weckman (SMSU). In Ag Communications, the judges were Matt Frederking (Ralco), Dave Afdem (ADM), Jim Moline (Midwest Ag), Jeremy Labat (SMSU), Gerry Toland (SMSU), Matt Erickson (ADM) and Lisa Frank (SMSU). We appreciate all the time and effort our judges gave during the Scholarship Challenge.

The 2012 Ag Bowl festivities were a huge success much to the credit of our sponsors and many departments and staff members at SMSU. Thank you to all for your support and hard work this past week!

Next up, 2012 Homecoming at SMSU featuring the theme Mustangs for Life on October 5 & 6. The SMSU Athletics Department will host the Mustang Stampede on Saturday, October 6 featuring a number of programs surrounding the 5K walk/run and 10K run with the activities beginning at 9:00am at the Regional Event Center.
 
For all the information on the 2012 Homecoming festivities, the Mustang Stampede and SMSU Athletics, please go to SMSUmustangs.com.

This Week in Mustang Athletics:

This weekend, the SMSU Soccer team (3-2 overall, 1-2 NSIC) will travel north again this weekend to battle UMD (0-3overall, 1-4 NSIC) on Saturday before heading to St. Cloud State (2-3-1 overall, 1-2 NSIC) on Sunday. The Mustangs will look to rebound after dropping two close games to the University of Mary and Minot State last weekend on the road.

The SMSU Football team (1-2, 1-2 NSIC) will head to the University of Minnesota, Crookston (0-3, 0-3 NSIC) this Saturday with kickoff  scheduled for 1:00 pm. This will be the first of two straight NSIC road games for the Mustangs as they will head to Sioux Falls, SD next weekend to battle the University of Sioux Falls.

The #4 SMSU Volleyball Team (9-1 overall, 2-1 NSIC) will host a pair of NSIC opponents in St. Cloud State and No. 3 Minnesota Duluth in the PE Gym this Friday and Saturday. St. Cloud State will enter Friday's contest 5-6 overall, 1-2 in NSIC play, while No. 3 Minnesota Duluth is a perfect 12-0 overall, 3-0 in NSIC play. Bring the family out to the PE Gym on Friday and Saturday to enjoy some of the best volleyball in the upper Midwest!

The Mustang Women’s Golf team will host the 15th annual Mustang Invitational this Saturday and Sunday at the 5,935-yard, par 72 Marshall Golf Club. The 36-hole invite begins with a shotgun start on Saturday at 1:00 pm and will conclude with the final round beginning on Sunday with a shotgun start at 9:00 am.

A total of 116 golfers are expected to compete from 17 teams including Southwest Minnesota State; Augustana; Bemidji State; Central Missouri; Concordia (Moorhead); Concordia (St. Paul); Minnesota State; Minnesota, Crookston; MSU Moorhead; Missouri Western State; Northwest Missouri State; St. Cloud State; Sioux Falls; Upper Iowa; Wayne State; Winona State and Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

SMSU has won the team title twice (2000 & 2005) during the 14-year history of the invitational. This will be the fifth competition for SMSU this fall. The Mustangs last competed on September 8-9, taking home second place at the 11-team Concordia-Moorhead Invite in Detroit Lakes, MN.

The sport of cross country officially returned to Southwest Minnesota State University last Friday as the Mustang women’s and men’s cross country made its NCAA debut at the South Dakota State Classic in Brookings, SD.

The SMSU women’s team finished eighth overall in the eight-team field, while the men’s team finished seventh out of seven teams. The Mustang men were led by Jack Derham, who finished 57th with a time of 29:42.

Kevin Leiferman finished 61st with a time of 30:45, while Alex Solheim was 63rd at 30:59, Andrew Feucht 64th at 33:00 and Demond Carter 65th at 33:07.  Jason Bentley finished the course in 34:48 for 69th place. On the women’s side, Tatum Larson led SMSU with a 78th place finish with a time of 23:16.  Diana Moe placed 80th with a time of 23:56, followed by Karli Tholen (24:58), Amanda Estes (25:44), Kaelyn Turner (25:46), Emily Hartwig (27:05) and Melissa Peterson (27:23).

South Dakota State won the men’s team title with a score of 25 points.  Trent Lusignan won the individual title with a time of 24:59.  SMSU ended the meet with 213 points. The University of Minnesota swept the women’s title with 15 points, with the Gophers’ Molly Kayfes winning with a time of 17:15.  SMSU finished with 235 points.

Both SMSU squads return to action on Friday, September 28, at the Gale Woods Invite in Mound, MN.

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

Go Mustangs!

Congratulations to Megan Vogl, who provided the correct answer to last week’s Mustang Hoofprints Question: This season, how many different players have scored goals for the SMSU Soccer team? Miranda Cadena, Kayla Williams and Kendahl Fisher have each scored two goals while Kylee Nolan, Lauren Douglas and Autumn Hayes have each scored one goal for the Mustangs this season

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

What SMSU Volleyball player has played in the most career matches for the Mustangs?

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