February 19, 2015 – Hoof Prints Article Hello Mustang Fans!
The SMSU Department of Athletics will be hosting "It's a Slam Dunk – Don't Drive Drunk" this Friday and Saturday, February 20-21, when the Mustangs play their final regular season home games of the 2014-15season.
The NSIC is proud to partner with the TEAM Coalition for the third annual "It's A Slam Dunk, Don't Drive Drunk" campaign. Started in 2013, the campaign commemorates Drake Bigler, the five-month-old son of SMSU Head Men's Basketball Coach,
Brad Bigler, who was killed by a drunk driver.
During designated basketball weekends, NSIC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) members will be collecting signatures from fans pledging not to drive drunk. Pledge stickers and window decals will be handed out to fans that pledge to join in this initiative. The institution which collects the most pledges and the institution with the greatest percentage of pledges based on total attendance will each receive a check for $500 that will be donated to Make-A-Wish.
Please join us in support of the Bigler Family and the entire NSIC as we host the “It’s a Slam Dunk – Don’t Drive Drunk” campaign at this weekend’s games.
Also this Friday, the SMSU Department of Athletics along with Affiliated Community Medical Center (ACMC) will be hosting the annual "Pink Zone" this Saturday at the R/A Facility. The event raises awareness and focuses on women's health.
Each February during the "Pink Zone" event, the R/A Facility will be decorated in pink to show support for breast cancer awareness and women’s health. The day will be filled with a number of activities, including prize giveaways. ACMC will be serving pink sugar cookies to all fans at the basketball games on Friday. Come out to the basketball games Friday evening wearing pink in support of breast cancer awareness and women’s health.
On Saturday, the SMSU SAAC members will have their annual “Airplane Toss” to help to raise funds for the NSIC Make-A-Wish campaign. The SAAC members will be out in full force on Saturday selling airplanes for your chance to win some great prizes when you toss your airplane onto the basketball court during halftime of the men’s basketball game.
Bring the entire family out to the R/A Facility this weekend and enjoy the activities surrounding our SMSU Women’s and Men’s Basketball games.
For the latest information on Mustang Athletics go to SMSUmustangs.com.
This Week in SMSU Athletics The SMSU Men’s Basketball team (12-14, 8-12 NSIC) will host two home games this weekend against NSIC South Division teams. Southwest will take on Concordia-St. Paul (16-10, 12-8 NSIC) on Friday with tip-off scheduled for 8:00 pm. On Saturday, the Mustangs will face Minnesota State University (20-6, 15-5 NSIC) with at 7:00 pm start time in the R/A Facility.
The SMSU Women’s Basketball team (3-21, 3-17 NSIC) will play host to Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota State this weekend. On Friday, the Mustangs will battle Concordia-St. Paul (14-12, 10-10 NSIC) with game time scheduled for 6:00 pm. SMSU will face the Minnesota State Mavericks (18-7, 15-5 NSIC) at 5:00 pm on Saturday with both contests in the R/A Facility.
On Saturday, it will be Senior Night for the SMSU Women’s and Men’s Basketball teams. Both teams will recognize three seniors and their contributions to Mustang Basketball in their time at SMSU.
The SMSU Wrestling team (8-9, 3-5 NSIC) will head on the road today to battle the #6 team in Division III, Concordia-Moorhead (12-5) with the dual scheduled for 7:00 pm. The Mustangs are coming off two NSIC losses to #1 in the country St. Cloud State and MSU Moorhead last weekend. Southwest will than beginning preparing for the NCAA Division II Super Region 3 Championships hosted by MSU Mankato on February 27.
The SMSU Wheelchair Basketball team (8-31) went 1-3 last weekend at the University of Illinois Tournament in Champaign, IL. The Mustangs lost to Missouri, Edinboro (PA), and Wisconsin-Whitewater picking up a win against Wisconsin-Whitewater, Women 59-49. Southwest will conclude their season March 5-7 at the National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament hosted in Columbia, MO on the campus of the University of Missouri.
The SMSU Women’s and Men’s Indoor Track & Field teams competed this past weekend at the SDSU Invite in Brooking, SD. For the SMSU women's team,
Amanda Grengs placed sixth in the mile with a time of 5:30.77, while
Savannah Ramirez finished seventh at 5:32.44.
Kim Shabino placed 36th out of 137 in the 60-meter with a time of 8.12, while
Eisha Oden finished with a time of 59.78 in the 400-meter to earn a 25th place finish out of 74 athletes.
On the men's side, Austin LaFollette ran a 50.70 in the 400-meter to finish 31st, while Chris Kveseth placed 39th with a time of 51.09. Alejandro Sanchez finished 11th in the 800-meter with a time of 1:54.75. Will Hanson advanced to the finals in the 60-meter hurdles and placed sixth crossing the line at 8.40.
In the triple jump, Zach Jones and Cole Jalivay both had strong showings with Jones finishing 14th with a mark of 13.07m, while Jalivay was 23rd with a jump of 12.28m. Ben Tonsager was 13th in the shot put with a throw of 14.30, while Alex Weis earned a 10th place mark in the weight throw at 15.18m.
Last Sunday, Rylee Armstrong finished in 12th place at the NSIC Pentathlon Indoor Championship held at Minnesota State University. Armstrong finished the competition with a total of 2,996 points in the five events. Bree Woebler from Augustana College won the championship with 3,892 points.
Armstrong started the day setting a personal best in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 9.86 to earn 738 points. She then earned 712 points in the high jump with a mark of 1.58m, before tossing 9.59m in the shot put to record 503 points. In her fourth event, Armstrong recorded a mark of 5.04m in the long jump to earn 570 points, before closing the day with a personal best time of 2:49.13 in the 800-meters to 473 points.
SMSU will return to action this Friday as they compete at the Northern State Invite beginning at 3:00 pm.
The SMSU Women’s Tennis team (1-4, 0-3 NSIC) will be back in action this weekend with a pair of NSIC matches in Winona, MN. The Mustangs will face Winona State University (2-1, 2-0 NSIC) at the Winona Tennis Center on Saturday starting at 6:00 pm. On Sunday, Southwest will battle Upper Iowa University (2-2, 2-0 NSIC) at the Winona Tennis Center starting at 1:00 pm. SMSU went 1-2 last weekend picking up their first win of the season versus Gustavus 7-2 last Sunday.
The SMSU Softball team (3-1) opened their 2015 season by sweeping Jamestown 9-1 and 6-2 in a doubleheader last Friday at the RCTC Dome in Rochester, MN. On Saturday, the Mustangs split with Dakota Wesleyan picking up an 11-1 victory in game one before losing the second 3-6. Southwest will be back in action on February 24 when they travel to West St. Paul Dome to play UMD in non-conference doubleheader with the contest starting at 12:00 pm.
The SMSU Baseball team re-scheduled this weekend’s four-game set with Quincy (IL) for Saturday, February 28 and Sunday March 1, due to poor weather conditions in Miami, OK. The games will now be played at Lincoln Park in Pittsburg, KS.
I would like to wish all our teams the best of luck this weekend!
Go Mustangs!
Congratulations to Sean Carmody, who provided the correct answer to last week’s Mustang Hoofprint’s Trivia Question: In 1983, what female student-athlete finished 2
nd in the NAIA National Championships in the Heptathlon? In 1983, Char Nelson placed 2
nd in the Heptathlon for the Mustangs at the NAIA National Championships.
Hoofprints Trivia Question (please put this in a box with the title on top)
Name the only SMSU Women’s Basketball student-athlete to be named Region Player of the Year?
The first person to email me at
MustangHoofPrints@SMSU.edu with the correct answer to this question will receive an SMSU t-shirt.
