If it ain't broke, don't fix it

Sports has its unbreakable records, right?

Gretzky has a passel of them (51 goals in 39 games, 51-game point-scoring streak, three consecutive 200-point seasons, 2,857 career points....you get the idea).  Joe DiMaggio had his 56-game hitting streak. Cy Young won 511 career games. Ty Cobb hit .367 over the course of his 24-year major league career. Cal Ripken, Jr. played in 2,632 straight games. Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths. Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50.4 points per game in 1962 as a member of the Philadelphia Warriors. The Boston Celtics won eight straight NBA titles from 1959-66.  Eric Heiden won every men's speedskating event at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.

It gets the mind to wandering, as it is wont to do when one does what one does. In my case, the question becomes what are our unbreakable records?  Are there any? Given that our sports date back the 1920's, one would think so.

So, after some reflection, let's peel back the onion to see what comes up.  For your review, here's a list. Certainly not an end-all, be-all compendum as certainly there are others. Feel free to discuss amongst yourselves.

There are many others, so just a smattering listed above. A question we had upon compiling this was which one is the most unlikely to be broken.  Ted Nelson's record in the 800m has held up more than 50 years. Brad Henry pinned his opponent in four seconds. Jason Hoppe set a NCAA record when he did not allow a run (earned or otherwise) in 55 straight innings and Butch Meyeraan was perfect when he made 20 of 20 free throws in a game vs. UW-River Falls in 1961.  In order to get past Lori Meyer's career wins mark, a coach would have to average 35.1 victories a season for 30 years.  Well, Lori's still coaching. And winning. Good luck with that.

It's great to be a Maverick!

Proving Ground: Gretta, Brittany, Dax & Michelle

While MavBlog isn't necessarily all about the transactions agate one will see online or in the local paper, it does provide the opportunity to keep everyone aprised as to where staff affiliated with Minnesota State Athletics, both past and present, is coming and going.

This is one of those posts.

First off, Gretta Arvesen. The former Minnesota State women's soccer assistant coach, who joined Peter McGahey's staff at Central Michigan when he went there from MSU in the spring of 2013, has been named head coach of the women's soccer program at St. Cloud State. Arvesen was a member of MSU coaching staff beginning in 2008 and helped the Mavericks get to four NCAA tournaments, while winning a pair of league titles. SCSU's announcement regarding Gretta's hiring appears HERE.

There there's Brittany Henderson.  A Milwaukee, Wis., native, Henderson was named MSU’s Senior Female Athlete of the Year for 2009-10 after a track & field career that saw her rack up 14 All-America placings. The owner of three school indoor records (60m, 200m, 4x400m) and three outdoor school records (100m, 200m, 4x100m), she was a four-time indoor conference champion and won four conference outdoor crowns.

After earning a master's degree in sociology, Henderson joined the MSU athletics department when she was named Academic Coordinator in August of 2012. She recently took a position with George Washington University Athletics where the Colonials are members of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic 10 Conference.

A former undergraduate and graduate assistant with MSU Athletic Communications, Dax Larson has been named Director of Sports Information & Media Relations at Colorado State-Pueblo.

Larson, a Bloomington, Minn., native who earned a master's degree from Minnesota State in 2009, has spent the last five years as the Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations at Bemidji State.

And Michelle Beck, who has served as MSU Athletics Director of Marketing and Special events the last year and half, has been named Assistant Commissioner for external relations and marketing with the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.  In that role she will help build the NSIC brand and work with league marketing initiatives and corporate sponsorships.

"I absolutely loved coming up through the program," said Beck, a Chaska, Minn., native who started as an intern with the department's marketing operation before becoming a graduate assistant with the Mavericks which led to a full-time marketing position at Drake. She returned to Minnesota State Athletics in 2012.  "I feel fortunate that I was able to have gained a lot of different knowledge at every step along the way in Mankato and had a great experience in all of my roles with Maverick Athletics. We work in a family-oriented and supportive environment here. The coaches are at each others games and the adminstrators are at all the events. That's not typical at a lot of places."

Beck looks at the NSIC opportunity as a natural progression in her career. "I'm very excited to be joining the NSIC office. It's certainly a new challenge, but I'm looking forward to being able to work with all 16 of the institutions in the league to help enhance the student-athlete experience."

It's great to be a Maverick!