SMSU Athletics

February 6, 2014 – Hoof Prints Article

Hello Mustang Fans!

Yesterday was a big day for SMSU Athletics. It was national signing day for football, soccer, cross country and track & field. These sports all announced large classes of incoming freshmen and transfers for their respected programs. The SMSU Football team gave a preview of next year’s class of forty-eight talented student-athletes at the Mustang Booster Club Luncheon at the Pizza Ranch yesterday afternoon. Mustang Soccer received National Letters of Intent from eleven recruits expecting a total of thirteen before the end of the day on Wednesday.

SMSU Cross Country and Track & Field signed twelve student-athletes yesterday. Coach Wolf would like to increase the track & field roster size from 51 student-athletes, this year, to 75 entering the 2014 fall semester. The 75 student-athletes include participants in both cross country and track & field.

The next National Signing Day will be Wednesday, April 16 for the rest of our sports at SMSU. Thank you to all of our coaches for all their hard work and dedication during the recruitment process throughout the year. I would also like to congratulate all of our future student-athletes who signed their National Letters of Intents to continue their education and athletic careers at SMSU. We welcome you to the Mustang Family!

Congratulations to the Coach Blanchard and the SMSU Baseball team who raised over $3,800 this past Monday during the Super Supper fund raising event at the Hitching Post. A big thank you to the Hitching Post for partnering with the SMSU Baseball team as well as all the Mustang Baseball supporters who came out to eat supper in support of the baseball program.

We are one week from the 2014 Gold Rush Raffle sponsored by the Mustang Booster Club held on Friday, February 14 in the SMSU Conference Center Ballroom. The event starts with a social at 6:00 p.m. and the reverse raffle to follow at 7:00 p.m. The reverse raffle gets exciting when five lucky individuals are left. These individuals, who are in attendance or have selected to split on their ticket, can walk away with $1,000 each or hold out for the grand prize of $5,000!

There are other activities going on throughout the evening for everyone’s entertainment as well as a great silent and live auction along with a chance to win the mystery prize. This year’s Gold Rush Raffle Committee has some new activities planned for the evening with a Valentine’s Day theme.

Your presence is requested but not required at the event. Individuals do not need to present to win prizes, including the grand prize. The Gold Rush Raffle has become the mid-winter social event in Marshall. The SMSU Department of Athletics and the Mustang Booster Club look forward to hosting another memorable night for all of our attendees.

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

Upcoming SMSU Athletics Events

The SMSU Wrestling team (10-4 overall, 4-1 NSIC) made a statement last Saturday beating MSU Mankato 31-9 for the first time since 1990-91. The four NSIC dual wins this season is the most in school history since becoming a member of the NSIC and NCAA Division II.

Congratulations to Justin Reinsma who earned the NSIC Wrestler of the Week honor announced by the league office on Monday. Justin is the second Mustang Wrestler (Cole Wilson) to earn the honor this season. SMSU Wrestling continues their tough NSIC schedule today has they travel to St. Cloud. The Mustangs will battle #4 St. Cloud State (15-1, 4-0 NSIC) with the dual beginning at 7:00 p.m. Friday, SMSU will come home to the PE Gym and host Northern State (3-8, 0-4 NSIC) at 7:00 p.m.

The SMSU Men’s Basketball team (14-8, 11-5 NSIC) will be on the road the next two weekends taking on four NSIC opponents. On Friday, the Mustangs will begin the four game swing with #21 Minnesota State (19-4, 13-3 NSIC) in Mankato, MN with tip-off set for 8:00 p.m. at the Taylor Center. Saturday, SMSU will conclude the trip by taking on Concordia-St. Paul (7-13, 4-12 NSIC) with tip-off slated for 6:00 p.m. at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul. SMSU is coming off an NSIC split last weekend losing to Bemidji State 82-91 before beating U of M Crookston 79-53 in front of a packed R/A Facility on Hawaiian Night.

The Mustangs are currently in third place in the NSIC South Division standings and tied for fourth overall.  MSU is tied for first in both the NSIC South and overall standings, while CU is eighth in the NSIC South and 13th overall.

The Mustang Women’s Basketball team (4-16, 2-14 NSIC) will kick-off the four-game road trip on Friday versus #24 Minnesota State (15-5, 12-4 NSIC)  at 6:00 p.m. On Saturday, the Mustangs will head to Concordia-St. Paul (17-6, 12-4 NSIC) to battle the Golden Bears 4:00 p.m.  SMSU is coming off a 1-1 home weekend versus Bemidji State (W, 76-64) and Minnesota Crookston (L, 69-76) and is in search of its first NSIC road win of the season.

The SMSU Women's and Men's Indoor Track and Field competed two days last weekend at Minnesota State Multi and Open in Mankato, MN. On the men's side, Alejandro Sanchez led the way running a time of 1:54.92 to finish in second place in the 800-meter, while OJ Ojullu finished in sixth place with a time of 1:55.91. The time by Sanchez meets the  NCAA Divsion II provisonal national qualifying mark, currently ranking 24th in the country. Jay Schneider notched a fourth place finish in the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.0.

Leading the way for the SMSU women's team was Amanda Grengs, who placed seventh in the 1000-meter with a time of 3:12.24 and also finished 10th in the 3000-meter with a time of 11:27.59. Rylee Armstrong finished seventh in the high jump pentathlon with a mark of 1.54m.

The SMSU Wheelchair Basketball team (9-14) started off the three-game road trip at last weekend’s tournament in Kansas with a 51-48 win over Edinboro. The Mustangs would fall to Alabama in game-two last Friday 37-53. SMSU played the final game on Saturday morning suffering a 61-30 loss to Texas-Arlington. Southwest will be at home this Saturday taking on the Sioux Falls Wheelers with games at 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

The SMSU Tennis team (1-2, 0-1 NSIC) went 1-2 last weekend splitting its first two non-conference matches of the season last Saturday when the Mustangs fell 9-0 to St. Thomas. In the second match of the day, SMSU defeated Macalaster College 5-4 at the Leonard Center in St. Paul.

On Sunday, the Mustangs took their first NSIC loss of the season being defeated 8-1by Minnesota State University in the conference opener at the Swanson Tennis Center in St. Peter, MN. SMSU will be back in action this Saturday with NSIC matches versus St. Cloud State at 9:30 a.m. and Bemidji State at 1:00 p.m. in Sartell, MN at Fitness Evolution.

Good luck to all our Mustang Teams this week!

Go Mustangs!

Congratulations to Rick Haberman who provided the correct response to last week’s Mustang Hoofprint’s Trivia Question: When was the last time both the SMSU Women’s and Men’s Basketball team won on Hawaiian Night? In 2010, both the women’s and men’s teams beat Bemidji State on Hawaiian Night.

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

When was the last time the SMSU Wrestling team was nationally ranked?

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