Hello Mustang Fans!

Congratulations to nine of our student-athletes who have earned the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Myles Brand All-Academic with Distinction Award. NSIC Commissioner Butch Raymond announced Wednesday that a total of 96 student-athletes from the league’s16 institutions and two affiliated members will receive the award in its fifth year.

Vanesa Corona, Josh Hanson, Ethan Hildebrandt, Bree Holleman, Micah Larson, Rachel Patnoe, Rebekah Rolling, Nick Smith and Britt Wickett all earned this prestigious honor given by the conference office. The honor, named for the late NCAA President Dr. Myles Brand, is bestowed on senior NSIC student-athletes who have a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or higher, are exhausting their eligibility and are on track to graduate.

Each student-athlete will be recognized by the NSIC with a certificate of achievement and a wrist watch. We are very proud of our student-athlete’s academic accomplishments and the individuals recognized above all exemplify what it means to be a Mustang student-athlete.

Gold Rush Raffle

The countdown continues to the 2014 Gold Rush Raffle, which is sponsored by the Mustang Booster Club on Feb. 14 in the SMSU Conference Center Ballroom.

The event starts with a social at 6 p.m. and the reverse raffle follows at 7 p.m.

We have a limited number of the 600 Gold Rush Raffle tickets still available.

This year, tickets cost $75 and includes a chance to win the grand prize of $5,000. The price of a ticket also includes free beverages and appetizers during the social hour from 6 to 7 p.m.

At 7 p.m., we will begin drawing out, one-by-one, each of the 600 tickets until we get down to the final five tickets in the barrel. We will announce each individual who has purchased a ticket as their ticket number is drawn.

Each raffle ticket that has been sold will be displayed on the board and will be recognized by name to the attendees.

The first and 100th number drawn each win $100, while the 300th number drawn wins $500. Other great prizes will also be given away for every 20th number drawn throughout the night.

The raffle gets exciting when the tickets of five lucky individuals remain. 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 taking place throughout the evening for everyone’s entertainment, such as a great silent and live auction with a chance to win a 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 Gold Rush Raffle. 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.

Online

For more information on SMSU athletics and the Gold Rush Raffle, visit our websit, www.smsumustangs.com.

Upcoming SMSU athletic events

Wrestling

The SMSU wrestling team (8-3 overall, 2-0 NSIC) defeated its second nationally ranked opponent of the year, beating No. 6-ranked Fort Hays State 22-20 on Saturday at the Midwest Duals, hosted by Nebraska-Kearney. The Mustangs also defeated Newman University 37-6, but fell to No. 4-ranked Nebraska-Kearney 31-6 in their second dual of the day. SMSU closed Saturday’s action with a 30-15 win over Bethany, Kan.

Congratulation to Justin Reinsma who won the 100th match of his career in SMSU’s 31-6 loss to Nebraska-Kearney. Reinsma went 4-0 Saturday and has now won six straight. The Mustangs have won seven of their last eight contests as they head into today’s NSIC dual at Minnesota State-Moorhead.

Southwest Minnesota State is currently atop of the NSIC standings with a 2-0 record heading into two very important duals this week. SMSU travels toUpper Iowa University on Sunday to battle the No. 8-ranked Peacocks.

Men’s Basketball

The SMSU men’s basketball team (11-7 overall, 8-4 NSIC South) heads on the road this weekend for a pair of league games. At 8 p.m. Friday, the Mustangs take on Wayne State (8-8, 5-7 NSIC South) at Rice Auditorium. At 6 p.m. Saturday, SMSU will be in Sioux Falls, S.D., to play Augustana College (11-7, 8-4 NSIC South) at the Elmen Center.

SMSU and Augustana begin the weekend tied for third place in the NSIC South standings and in a five-way tie for fourth in the overall standings. The Mustangs look to extend their five-game winning streak over Wayne State and will also look to snap a five-game losing streak at Augustana. SMSU’s last win at Augustana occurred on Dec. 11, 2004.

Women’s Basketball

The Mustang women’s basketball team (3-13 overall, 1-11 NSIC South) will also be on the road battling No. 11-ranked Wayne State (17-2, 10-2 NSIC South) at 6 p.m. Friday. At 4 p.m. Saturday, the SMSU travels to play Augustana (10-6, 6-6 NSIC South).

The Mustangs went 1-1 last weekend, beating Winona State on Friday before losing to Upper Iowa to conclude the weekend. With the win against the Warriors, SMSU snapped a 12-game losing streak.

Both SMSU men’s and women’s basketball teams will be playing six of their next eight games on the road.

Wheelchair

Basketball

The SMSU wheelchair basketball team (4-12 overall) went 1-3 at the University of Illinois Tournament last weekend. The Mustangs win came against Illinois in the first game of the tournament by a score of 48-37. SMSU dropped close contests to Arizona and a rematch with Illinois before losing to Wisconsin-Whitewater 74-34.

SMSU saw much improvement during the Illinois Tournament and hopes to carry that momentum into this weekend. On Saturday, the Mustangs will play the Sioux Fall Wheelers at 4 p.m. and the Timberwolves at 8 p.m. On Sunday, SMSU will battle the Timberwolves at 8 a.m. and Sioux Falls at 12 p.m. with all games taking place at the R/A Facility.

Indoor Track

and Field

The SMSU women’s and men’s indoor track and field teams competed Saturday at the Dordt Indoor Open Invitational.

Strong performances by the Mustangs included Rylee Armstrong, a true freshman, finished third in both the women’s high jump and long jump. Armstrong posted a high jump of 1.60 meters and a long jump of 5.19 meters.

Paige Yi ran the 1,000 meters in a time of 3:18.11 to finish eighth. That event was won by Northwestern’s (Iowa) Dawn Gildersleeve with a time of 3:09.87. Amanda Grengs rounded out the top 10 finishes for the SMSU women after she finished eighth in the 1-mile run with a time of 5:38.77.

On the men’s side, Jay Schneider posted a 55-meter dash time of 6.42 seconds to finish second, just behind Dakota State’s Seth Boomsma’s time of 6.32. O.J. Ojulla posted a time of 1:58:38 to finish third in the 800-meter run. The Mustang men’s 1,600 relay ran a time of 3:26.53 to finish only behind Briar Cliff’s time of 3:25.20.

The Mustangs will be in action Friday at the St. Thomas Invitational in St. Paul.

Women’s Tennis

The SMSU women’s tennis team is a little more that a week away from opening its season on Feb. 1 with a pair of matches versus St. Thomas and Macalester in Minneapolis.

Good luck to all our Mustang teams this week!

Go Mustangs!

Trivia Contest

Congratulations to Rick Haberman who provided the correct response to last week’s Mustang Hoofprint’s Trivia Question: What was the first year SMSU competed as an NCAA Division II Member?

SMSU was eligible for NCAA Division II competition in fall 1995.

Trivia Question

Who holds the SMSU record for the men’s 100-meter dash?

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