January 2, 2015 – Hoof Prints Article Hello Mustang Fans!
I would like to take this time to wish everyone a Happy New Year from the SMSU Department of Athletics. I hope you have had a joyous Holiday Season. It has been very quiet around the office since our students have left for winter break. Our student-athletes in the sports of women’s and men’s basketball have begun practices as they prepare for the second half of their winter season. Wrestling, Track & Field and Wheelchair Basketball will all start up after the first of the year.
I am very proud of the efforts of our fall sports as the Learfield Director’s Cup ranking were released in the last week. SMSU finished the fall season ranked 52
nd out of 256 NCAA Division II institutions. Other NSIC institutions ranked in the top 100 are UMD (6), Augustana (10), MSU (18), Winona State (35), USF (77), Concordia St. Paul (96) and Wayne State (96). Congratulations to all our student-athletes and coaches of our fall sports for getting us off to a great start in 2014-15.
Gold Rush Raffle Tickets are now available! The Gold Rush Raffle will be held on Friday, February 5 in the SMSU Conference Center beginning at 6:00 pm with a social, drinks and appetizers. To kick-off our program, we will hear from a student-athlete speaker at 7:00 pm and the reverse raffle will start shortly after the speakers conclude. It is a wonderful event that raises money for SMSU Athletic Scholarships through the Mustang Booster Club. If you have any questions about the event or would like to inquire about purchasing a Gold Rush Raffle Ticket, please call Jennifer Graven at 507-537-6233.
The Mustang Booster Club will also be sponsoring a number of socials following SMSU Women’s and Men’s Basketball games in 2015. Here are the dates and locations of the Mustang Booster Club Socials:
January 3 – Wooden Nickel
January 17 – HyVee
January 31 – Ramada (Hawaiian Night/Hall of Honor Weekend)
February 21 – Hitching Post
For the latest information on and Mustang Athletics go to SMSUmustangs.com.
This Week in SMSU Athletics The SMSU Men’s Basketball team (8-4, 4-2 NSIC) will start the second half of their season this weekend. The Mustangs will host Wayne State College (3-9, 0-6 NSIC) on Friday at 8:00 pm in the R/A Facility. Southwest will battle the #13 ranked Augustana College (11-1, 5-1 NSIC) on Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 7:00 pm.
The SMSU Women’s Basketball team (0-10, 0-6 NSIC) will begin the New Year playing host to Wayne State (9-3, 3-3 NSIC) at the R/A Facility with a 6:00 pm start time this Friday. The Mustangs will turn around on Saturday and battle Augustana College (9-4, 3-3 NSIC) at 5:00 pm.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams are coming off a thirteen day break from competition as is most of the NSIC. Please don’t forget the Mustang Booster Club social hosted at the Wooden Nickel following the SMSU Men’s Basketball game versus Augustana on Saturday.
The SMSU Wrestling team (3-2) The Mustang Wrestling team will be back in action on January 15 at MSU, Mankato.
The SMSU Wheelchair Basketball team (3-17) will not play again until January 16 & 17 when they head to Wichita, KS, for the Kansas Tournament.
The SMSU Women’s and Men’s Indoor Track & Field teams next competition will be on January 10 at the Minnesota State Alumni Open held in Mankato, MN, with the competition starting at 11:00 am.
I would like to wish the SMSU Women’s and Men’s Basketball teams the best of luck this weekend!
Go Mustangs!
We did not have a correct answer to our last Mustang Hoofprints Question: What year did the NCAA DII Membership pass the legislation putting in place a mandatory break of 7 days for all winter sports over the Holiday Season? The seven day break for NCAA DII winter sports started in December of 2010 as part of the Life in Balance legislation voted on in January of that same year.
Hoofprints Trivia Question (please put this in a box with the title on top)
In 2005, the Mustang Booster Club and SMSU Department of Athletics hosted the first Gold Rush Raffle fund raising event. Where was the first Gold Rush Raffle hosted?
The first person to email me at
MustangHoofPrints@SMSU.edu with the correct answer to this question will receive an SMSU t-shirt.
