March 5, 2015 – Hoof Prints Article
Hello Mustang Fans!
Congratulations to SMSU Wrestlers Jacob Begin and Cole Wilson for their performances at the NCAA Super Region 3 tournament, both finishing second in the regional championships. Begin and Wilson will begin preparation for the DII NCAA National Tournament held in St. Louis, MO, on March 13-14.
The brackets for the 2015 NCAA Division II wrestling championships were set earlier this week. At 174 pounds, senior Jacob Begin (26-4) from Anoka, MN, will open the championship taking on Luke Cramer (18-9) from Ashland University (Ohio), while Cole Wilson (28-5), from Fairbault, MN, at 285 pounds will battle Chris Giddens (23-4) from North Carolina-Pembroke.
Begin is making his third straight trip to the NCAA championships. He finished 1-2 at 165 pounds in 2013 and went 1-2 last season at 174. Wilson is making his second appearance at the championships, finishing 1-2 in 2014.
The top eight wrestlers in each class earn NCAA All-American honors. The championships will take place at Chaifetz Arena with Session I starting at 11:00 am and Session II starting at 6:00 pm on Friday, March 13. The championship resumes on Saturday, March 14, with Session III at 10:00 am, and the finals starting at 7:00 pm. A total of 160 wrestlers qualify for the NCAA championships with four wrestlers per weight class from each of the four Super Regionals.
Congratulations also go out to Will Hanson and Alejandro Sanchez, who have both qualified for the NCAA Division II Indoor Championships set for March 13-14. The championships will have co-host as the University of Alabama-Huntsville and the Birmingham CrossPlex will both host events for the championships.
Hanson, a native of Aurelia, Iowa, won the 60 meter hurdles last Friday at the NSIC/US Bank Championships with a personal best time of 7.97, which ranks tied for the ninth fastest in Division II this season. He will be seeded 9th out of 16 runners at the championships.
Sanchez, a native of Plano, Texas, won the 800 meters at the NSIC/US Bank Championships with a conference record-setting time of 1:52.93. Sanchez's converted track time (track size) of 1:51.34, ranks 15th in Division II this season. He will be seeded 13th out of 16 runners at the championships.
The 60 meter hurdle prelims will take place on March 13 at 3:15 pm, while the 800 meters prelims are set to begin at 5:50 pm. The finals of the 60 meter hurdles will be on March 14 at 3:25 pm, with the finals of the 800 meters at 5:10 pm.
We would like to wish all four student-athletes and their coaches the best of luck next week as they represent SMSU and the City of Marshall at the NCAA DII Championships in the sports of Wrestling and Indoor Track & Field!
For the latest information on this week’s NSIC Championship results and SMSU Athletics go to SMSUmustangs.com.
This Week in SMSU Athletics
The SMSU Men’s Basketball team (12-17, 8-14 NSIC) concluded their season with a 83-93 loss to the #3 seeded St. Cloud State in the NSIC Sanford Health Tournament last Wednesday night.
The SMSU Women’s Basketball team (3-24, 3-19 NSIC) ended their season last Wednesday in the first round of the NSIC Sanford Health Tournament and loss to the #1 seeded Northern State.
The SMSU Wrestling team (8-10, 3-5 NSIC) competed last Saturday and Sunday at the NCAA Division II Super Region 3 Championships in Mankato, MN. Two Mustang wrestlers, Jacob Begin and Cole Wilson, advanced to the championship round of the NCAA Super Region 3 tournament, but came up short in their final bouts Sunday. Begin and Wilson both finished runner-ups and have qualified for the DII NCAA National Tournament in St. Louis, MO, March 13-14.
The SMSU Women’s and Men’s Indoor Track & Field teams competed this past week (Thursday and Friday) at the NSIC/US Bank Championships held at Meyers Field House at MSU Mankato. The Mustang Men’s team came away from the championships with two individual champions, which helped earn an eighth place finish at the NSIC/US Bank Championships.
The SMSU men's team earned 42 points, while the SMSU women's team earned two points to finish tied for 13th. Minnesota State won its fourth straight men's title with 163 points, while the University of Mary captured the women's title with 142 points.
SMSU, in just its second season since reinstating track & field in 2013, finished the two-day event with 14 medal winners.
Alejandro Sanchez earned a first place finish in the 800-meters with a conference record time of 1:52.93, breaking the previous record of 1:53.49.
Will Hanson also provided great excitement for the Mustangs by capturing a first place finish in the 60-meter hurdles with a personal best time of 7.97. Hanson and Sanchez are the first SMSU individuals to earn conference titles at the NCAA Division II level. Both student-athletes have qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 14-15 in Birmingham, Ala.
Several other SMSU athletes had strong finishes during the tournament earning top eight accolades. Chris Kveseth placed fourth in the 600-meters with a time of 1:23.10, while Austin LaFollette finished fifth with a time of 1:23.72.
Alex Bloomquist joined Sanchez on the podium in the 800-meters, with a personal best time of 1:58.05 to finish in seventh place. Ben Tonsager also scored points for SMSU, recording a toss of 14.92m in the shot put to finish in seventh place. The SMSU men's 4x400 relay team also earned a podium spot with a third place finish time of 3:24.34.
For the SMSU Women’s team, Eisha Oden finished in eighth place in the 400-meters with a time of 59.09. The SMSU women's distance medley finished in eighth place with a time of 12:51.51. The SMSU Women’s and Men’s teams are in their second year of competition after being reinstated in the fall of 2013.
The SMSU Wheelchair Basketball team (8-31) will begin the National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament today hosted in Columbia, MO on the campus of the University of Missouri at Brewer Fieldhouse. The Mustang are the #7 seed in the tournament and will play the #2 seeded University of Texas-Arlington at 11:00 am this morning. If SMSU wins, they will play the winner of the University of Illinois or Edinboro University on Friday at 5:00 pm. If SMSU loses their first game, they will play on Thursday at 5:00 pm.
The SMSU Women’s Tennis team (1-8, 0-7 NSIC) will travel to Arizona over spring break to play five matches. The Mustangs will begin competition on March 9 with a match versus Mesa Community College in Mesa. Southwest will then have four matches in Phoenix, starting with Glendale Community College on March 10, Wisconsin Lutheran College on March 11, Arizona Christian University on March 12, before closing on March 13 versus Paradise Valley Community College. SMSU returns to conference play on March 28 in St. Peter, Minn., facing St. Cloud State and Minnesota Duluth.
The SMSU Softball team (3-3) will head south on their spring trip to compete in the Spring Games in Clermont, FL beginning March 8 and continuing play through March 13. SMSU will play twelve games while on their spring trip before coming home to a eight-game home stand beginning with a doubleheader versus Dakota Wesleyan (SD) on March 18. During the spring trip, the Mustangs will play Bentley College (MA), Saint Thomas Aquinas, St. Joseph’s College (IN), Queens (NY), Lees-McRae (NC), East Stroudsburg (PA), Ohio Dominican, University of St. Thomas, Nrothwood (MI), California (PA), Central Missouri and Marian (IN).
The SMSU Baseball team will open their 2015 season this weekend in Tucson, AZ, at the Tucson Invitational where SMSU will play eleven games in nine days, March 6-14. On the trip, the Mustangs will play Malone College, St. Cloud State, Northern State, Minot State, Bemidji State, Concordia St. Paul and Augustana. Southwest’s next contests are scheduled for March 28-29 with two doubleheaders at Alumni Field against Minot State.
The SMSU Women’s Golf team will open their 2015 spring season in Buckeye, AZ, as they host the SMSU Spring Invite at Sundance Golf Club on March 12-13. The Mustangs will also compete in the Fort Hays State Spring Thaw on March 16-17 played at the Dobson Ranch Golf Course in Mesa, AZ. Southwest will head down to Arizona on Saturday as part of their spring break trip where they will spend the week playing practice rounds and competing in the Phoenix area.
I would like to wish all our teams the best of luck this weekend!
Go Mustangs!
Congratulations to Max and Mary Lord for providing the correct answer to last week’s Mustang Hoofprint’s Trivia Question: Name the only SMSU Men’s Basketball student-athlete to be name to the NCAA NABC All-America first team? Ross DeMasi was the only Mustang Men’s Basketball student-athlete to be named to the NCAA NABC All-America first team.
Hoofprints Trivia Question (please put this in a box with the title on top)
Name the three SMSU Baseball student-athletes that earned NSIC Player of the Year honors?
The first person to email me at MustangHoofPrints@SMSU.edu with the correct answer to this question will receive an SMSU t-shirt.
