Hello Mustang Fans!

I would like to start off by congratulating both the SMSU football and volleyball teams for great seasons and providing our Mustang fans with an exciting fall for all of us to support.

Both programs ended their seasons on a high note with Mustang football making an appearance in the Mineral Water Bowl and Mustang volleyball earning their 10th consecutive showing in the NCAA Volleyball Central Region Tournament.

Thank you to our coaches and student-athletes for all their hard work.

The Mustang women’s soccer program was nationally ranked for six weeks this fall by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America/Continental Tire National College Top 25. SMSU, in the last ranking of the year announced Tuesday, capped off an amazing year by ending the season ranked 18th in the country.

We are very proud of the hard work and success of our fall sports teams.

Mustang football head coach Cory Sauter will be featured on Mike Max’s television show “Life to the Max” on WCCO-TV (Channel 4, Minneapolis) on Saturday evening. It is great to see one of our own in the sports spotlight of the news in the Twin Cities.

Mark your calendars! The 11th annual Gold Rush Raffle, hosted by the Mustang Booster Club, will be held Feb. 14 in the Conference Center Ballroom, beginning with a social at 6 p.m. Gold Rush Raffle tickets will be available toward the end of December.

For all the latest information on the Mustang Gold Rush Raffle and SMSU Athletics go to SMSUmustangs.com.

This Week

in SMSU Athletics

Men’s Basketball

The SMSU men’s basketball team (4-4 overall, 2-1 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) beat both Augustana College and Wayne State College last weekend to kickoff the NSIC home schedule.

The Mustangs travel to Fayette, Iowa, to battle Upper Iowa University (3-6, 1-2 NSIC), and first year head coach Brooks McKowen on Friday with tip-off scheduled for 8 p.m.

Then, SMSU travels to play Winona State University (7-2, 3-0 NSIC) on Saturday. The Mustangs return home next week for a couple of home contests versus Wisconsin-LaCrosse (non-conference) on Dec. 19 and Sioux Falls (NSIC game) on Dec. 21.

Women’s Basketball

The SMSU women’s basketball team (2-5, NSIC 0-3) is coming off a pair of losses to Augustana College and Wayne State College, both nationally ranked teams.

The Mustangs head south to play Upper Iowa University (2-5, 1-2 NSIC) on Friday with a 6 p.m. start time in Fayette, Iowa. On Saturday, SMSU will play at Winona State (4-3, 0-3 NSIC) in the second contest of the NSIC road trip. The next contest for the Mustangs will be at home in an NSIC match-up against Sioux Falls on Dec. 21.

Wrestling

The SMSU wrestling team went 2-1 last weekend at the Wisconsin-Lacrosse Duals, beating Waldorf College 27-15 before losing to the host school Wisconsin-Lacrosse 15-25. The Mustangs finished the day off with a 33-10 win over Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

SMSU is 2-2 in dual matches heading into Friday’s contest with St. John’s in Collegeville, Minn., starting at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the Southwest Minnesota State wrestlers compete in the St. Cloud State Open at 9 a.m. This will be the last competition for the Mustangs until Jan. 11, when they host Minot State at P.E. Gym at 4 p.m.

Wheelchair Basketball

The SMSU wheelchair basketball team showed great improvement last week at the University of Missouri Tournament, but still weren’t able to pick up their first win of the season.

The Mustangs are 0-8 this year, heading to Lincoln, Neb., this Saturday and Sunday to compete against four very good club teams.

On Saturday, SMSU takes on the Madonna Magic at 12 p.m. before battling Sioux Falls at 1:30 p.m. On Sunday, the Mustangs will play the Timberwolves at 8:30 a.m. and Iowa at 11:30 a.m.

I would like to wish all of our teams the best of luck this weekend!

Go Mustangs!

Trivia Contest

No one was able to provide the correct answer to last week’s Mustang Hoofprint’s Trivia Question: John Sterner, Leon Bullerman and Link Steffen all earned a national championship as members of the SMSU wrestling program. SMSU has also had three individuals who took second place in the national championships, can you name the three Mustang Wrestlers?

Scott Dubbledee (1984), Bill McDonald (1988) and Troy Mentzer (1993) all placed second in the NAIA National Championships and earned All-America status at their respective weight classes for SMSU.

Trivia Question

What SMSU Women’s Basketball player was an All-American two different years during her career?

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