SMSU Athletics

January 16, 2014 – Hoof Prints Article

Hello Mustang Fans!

Yesterday, representatives from the SMSU Department of Athletics traveled to San Diego, CA, for the 2014 NCAA Convention. At the convention, we will attend professional development sessions on all topics surrounding the operation of an athletics department. The staff will continue to learn more about the twenty-four legislative proposals we will be voting on during the NCAA Division II Business Session on Saturday morning.

This year, NCAA Division II has new legislation on the table called “Path to Graduation”. The legislation will impact incoming freshmen and transfers changing the eligibility requirements to participate in athletics at the Division II level. The Path to Graduation will also affect our current student-athletes at SMSU increasing the number of credits earned in a semester as well as changing a number of other criteria for annual certification. The NCAA has done extensive research and believes these changes will enhance the graduation rates of Division II student-athletes.

On Friday, the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) will have a variety of meetings for its leadership. The NSIC is in the middle of putting together a five-year strategic plan. Both President Gores and myself were selected to participate on the NSIC Strategic Planning Committee. This will be one of many topics the conference will be discussing at the convention this year.

We are just a little over a month away from the Gold Rush Raffle which will be held on Friday, February 14 in the Conference Center Ballroom. Last year, the Gold Rush Raffle raised just over $53,000. This year, the committee has set a goal of raising over $75,000 with all proceeds from the Gold Rush Raffle going to aid the Mustang Booster Club’s effort to support SMSU Athletic Scholarships. The Mustang Booster Club contributed $100,000 to athletic scholarships in 2012-13. The SMSU Department of Athletics and the Mustang Booster Club look forward to hosting the mid-winter social event everyone looks forward to attending.

The Mustang Booster Club will host a post-game social this Saturday night at The Hitching Post in Marshall following the SMSU women's and men's basketball games versus Upper Iowa. Appetizers and beverages will be provided. The event is open to all Mustang Booster Club members and potential members.

For all your information on SMSU Athletics and the Gold Rush Raffle, go to SMSUmustnags.com.

Upcoming SMSU Athletics Events

The SMSU Wrestling team (5-2 overall, 2-0 NSIC) earned a huge win over Augustana College on Tuesday of this week. The last time the Mustangs beat Augustana was the 1998-99 season.  SMSU handed the Vikings their first NSIC loss. Southwest was down 12-14 heading into the last match of the evening where heavyweight Cole Wilson secured the victory for the Mustangs with an 8-2 decision. SMSU is back in action this Saturday as they head to Kearney, NE to compete in four duals at the Midwest Duals hosted by the University of Nebraska-Kearney beginning at 9:00 a.m.

The SMSU Men’s Basketball team (10-6, 7-3 NSIC) will be at home Friday and Saturday welcoming two NSIC South Division teams. On Friday, the Mustangs will face #16 Winona State University (15-2, 10-0 NSIC) with game time set for 8:00 p.m.

Saturday, Southwest will face Upper Iowa University (7-9, 5-5 NSIC) in the R/A Facility with a 7:00 p.m start time. The Mustangs are coming of a 1-1 NSIC road trip last weekend losing to St. Cloud last Friday and beating UMD on Saturday. The Mustangs are currently in third place in the NSIC overall and in the south division rankings.

The Mustang Women’s Basketball team (2-12, 0-10 NSIC) suffered two losses last weekend on the road versus St. Cloud State and UMD. The Mustangs are at home on Friday battling Winona State (8-6, 4-6 NSIC) with the contest beginning at 6:00 p.m. On Saturday, Upper Iowa (4-10, 3-7 NSIC) is in the R/A Facility for a 5:00 p.m. game time.

The SMSU Women's and Men's Indoor Track and Field had an impressive showing in their first NCAA Division II competition.  The Mustang men's 4x400 meter relay team of LaFollette, Ojulla, Sanchez and Schneider captured first place with a time of 3:26.33, breaking the previous school record of 3:28.51 set in 1990. Freshman Jay Schneider set a new school mark of 22.69 in the 200-meter dash, breaking the previous record of 23.09 set in 1990 by Wayne Hawkins.

Alejandro Sanchez won the 800-meter with a time of 2:00.98 and Amanda Grengs earned a third place finish in the 800-meter with a time of 2:33.01.St. Cloud State, Iowa Central, University of Sioux Falls, Minnesota State, Concordia-St. Paul and North Iowa Area Community College all competed in the meet at MSU.

The Mustangs will be back in action this Saturday at the Dordt Open in Sioux Center, Iowa. Teams competing along with SMSU include Dakota State, Dordt, Morningside, Mount Marty, Northwestern, Briar Cliff, Dakota Wesleyan, University of Sioux Falls, Augustana, Southwestern Community College, North Iowa Community College and South Dakota School of Mines.

The SMSU Wheelchair Basketball team (3-9) is back in action this weekend as they travel to Urbana-Champaign, IL to compete in the University of Illinois Tournament. The Mustangs will battle the University of Illinois, University of Arizona and Wisconsin – Whitewater on the weekend.

The SMSU Tennis team will open the 2014 season in a couple of weeks competing in a 20-match schedule beginning on February 1 with a pair of matches versus St. Thomas and Macalester in Minneapolis.

Good luck to all our Mustang Teams this week!

Go Mustangs!

Congratulations to former SMSU Baseball Marc Craigmile who provided the correct response to last week’s Mustang Hoofprint’s Trivia Question: In the history of the program, the SMSU Wrestling team is a perfect 4-0 against which NSIC school? The Mustang Wrestling team was 4-0 versus the University of Sioux Falls in all-time duals.

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

What was the first year SMSU competed as an NCAA Division II Member?

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