Anthony Herrera and Pilosec OTC

There are five words you never thought you would see on MavBlog, but here's an explanation.  Minnesota Viking offensive lineman Anthony Herrera shot a commercial for Prilosec OTC during training camp and Minnesota State was showcased throughout (great shots of Blakeslee Stadium, Julia Sears Dorms, the weight room, the locker room, etc.).  Additionally, a Mankato staple - Zanz - was also shown in the piece.  The extended version of the commercial - nearly two minutes long - can be found below.  Pretty cool to see MSU on a national spot!

Mavericks Continue to Give Back

KEYC did a feature last night (Tuesday) on the Engineers Without Borders who are traveling El Salvador.  Former Minnesota State golfer Kassie Ellsworth is among those making the trip.  KEYC did a piece on the group, which can be found HERE while the Free Press wrote an article about the group, HERE.

Kenny the Kicker Stops By

Ken Navitsky with NCC championship ring

Former Minnesota State (he would say Mankato State) football placekicker Kenny Navitsky stopped by the office today, just to say hello.

Kenny, a Sarasota, Fla., native who played here from 1991-94 and was a part of a MSU team that captured a North Central Conference title in1993, still owns school records for season and career PATs made, career field goals attempted and career points.

MavBlog took the opportunity to ask "The Kicker" a few questions.

Tell us a little about your favorite memories from playing football with the Mavericks.
"Well, you know the team from that time, the coaches, the campus.  It seemed like we were all one, culminating with that great team in '93 with the conference championship, beating Missouri Southern in a first round game and then playing the Fighting Sioux up in Grand Forks in the NCAA quarterfinals.   We had a great team, obviously, and they (UND) did the one thing we thought no team could do against us.  They beat us twice.  We were 10-3 that year and they got us once during the regular season, we lost at home to SDSU in a shootout and then we lost to UND in the playoffs."

How does the school look now to you after all these years?
"It's a whole different level now.  It's almost like a health spa.  Everything's so open and beautiful.  The mall across the street looks a lot different.  The student union is beautiful and has all the amenities. The new buildings, the walkways.  The name of the school has changed since we were all here.  We often wonder what it would be like if we had this when were were here.  My gosh, I think about the old weight room we had under your office in the hallway Otto Arena compared with what we have here now.  Everything's so nice, we're all so happy these changes have been made and it makes me proud to be an alum."

What are you up to these days?
"I rep for Forest Healthcare.  I also travel the country on weekends as a professional MC in the monster truck industry.  I volunteer coach for the RCTC football program (they play in the North Star Bowl this weekend).   I'm on the zoning and planning commission in Rochester and I'm heavily involved in the running of Team Navitsky which consists of my wife, Kelly (who was a MSU cheerleader), my son Parker (8) and daughter Peyton (10). Life is good."

It's great to be a Maverick.

Backes Inks Contract Extension

Former Minnesota State forward David Backes has signed a five-year extension with the St. Louis Blues.  Backes, who was in the final year of his current deal, has spent all five of his professional seasons in St. Louis and is now under contract with the team until the 2016 season.  The Blues issued a release on the signing, which can be found HERE.  Last night, Backes scored his second goal of the season (sits 2-4--6 on the campaign) in a 3-2 shootout loss to Nashville. 

Backes comments on the extension can be found HERE

General Manager Doug Armstrong's comments on Backes' extension can be found HERE.

Finally, Backes netted his second goal of the season last night in a 3-2 shootout loss to Nashville. Backes, who sits 2-4--6 on the season, absolutely blew up a Nashville defender prior to his goal, which can be found HERE.

King Pins

Not sure how many instances there of of this, but the MSU women’s bowling program head coach is also the director of compliance and eligibility for the Maverick women’s bowling program.

Shane Drahota, who is in his second year skippering the MSU keglers after guiding the team to a 48-42 in 2009-10, is in his second go-round with MSU and in his fourth year with the department in his current role.

Drahota has compliance responsibilities that relate to all university, conference and NCAA rules and regulations governing the operation of intercollegiate athletics. He supervises ongoing rules and compliance education programs for university staff, administrators, coaches and student-athletes. He is the primary resource person for all athletically related rules, regulations and interpretations. He certifies eligibility and financial aid for the more than 600 MSU student-athletes, and is the department liaison for all academic reporting (retention, graduation & other statistical data) to the NCAA.  

So, yeah, combined with coaching responsibilities with the bowling program, he’s a busy individual.

Given his intercollegiate background, however, Drahota should have a pretty clear understanding of the intercollegiate athletics culture. A native of nearby Jackson, Minn., where he played high school baseball, football and basketball, Drahota started working on a degree in business at the University of Minnesota before transferring to MSU.  Recruited to work in MSU’s athletic communications office as a sophomore, he spent eight years assisting with publicizing Maverick teams, student-athletes and coaches before becoming an assistant director of athletics at the University of South Dakota in 2006.  He returned to Mankato in 2007 when he accepted his current role handling the school’s athletics compliance and eligibility.

“Honestly, it's challenging, but ultimately rewarding," said Drahota summing up his feelings regarding juggling his responsibilities. "I've certainly gained a greater appreciation what the demands on our coaches are from a compliance point of view.  Hopefully this had benefitted me, as well as our coaches.  As far as bowling goes, I'm pretty lucky that I have a great bunch of student-athletes I get to work with on a daily basis.  And, I will say this.  I really do love MSU and am appreciative for what the school has given me. To get the chance to come back, still be here, I must lead a charmed life."

Seth Wickersham of ESPN the Magazine penned this article entitled Internal Affairs back in August and it covers alot of what college athletics compliance and eligibility directors do.  You might find it interesting.

It's great to be a Maverick.

NSIC Showcase

The first installment of the Northern Sun Showcase will debut on Fox Sports North Friday, October 29th at 6:00 p.m. followed by re-broadcasts on Sunday, October 31st at 10:30 p.m., Monday, November 1st at 10:00 p.m. and on Tuesday, November 2nd at 7:30 a.m. The show will have a feature on the Augustana Women's Golf Team, UMD's All-American Cross Country runner Morgan Place, a story on SMSU Football Player Derek Klinkner, a look at the fall sports as well as a look ahead at the winter sports. There will also be a update on the NSIC's NCAA Woman of the Year Award finalist Mary Slinger of Concordia-St. Paul. 

Additionally, you can listen to the NSIC weekly radio show on our website by going to "Podcasts" under multi-media.  

Speaking of radio shows, another installment of Maverick Magazine comes tomorrow at 10 a.m., on 89.7 KMSU.  You can listen online HERE.  Tomorrow's show will feature MSU junior setter Brittany Stamer and a soccer player to be named later.  If you can't listen live, be sure to check out the podcast of the show on the aforementioned Podcasts page on www.msumavericks.com

Until next time-  It's Great to be a Maverick 

Saturday in October

Former Minnesota State men's hockey trainer Jason Bushie, who now works with the men's hockey team at Colorado College, just characterized today as a Hound of the Baskervilles kind of day.  And, given the 70 degree temperature and 70% humidity, he just might be right.

Truly a great day in Mankato that started off with the inaugural running of the Mankato Marathon.  Today's festivities, which included a KidsK, a 10K and a half marathon, featured more than 2,000 entrants in the marathon. For those of us in MSU Athletics, we proudly join women's cross country/track and field coach Jen Blue in celebrating her first-place finish in the women's division of the marathon.  Blue, who was running in her fourth marathon, turned in a personal-best time of 3:06 in finishing 21st overall. Her husband, MSU men's hockey coach Darren Blue, is believed to have provided many great training tips for Jen.

And just to recap yesterday, in addition to the MSU men's hockey team getting its first win of the season with a 5-4 victory over #19 Colorado College, the MSU women's hockey team also picked up a big win with a 4-2 victory over #6 North Dakota at All Seasons Arena.  UND, which features Olympians Monique and Jocelyne Lamoureux, was coming off of a two-game sweep of Minnesota. Also Friday, the #14 Maverick women's volleyball team captured a 3-1 NSIC win over Upper Iowa at Taylor Center.  So, yeah, a pretty good night for Maverick Athletics. 

Gary Mielke

And thought I might pass this along.  I was doing some baseball research this morning and came across a site that's mission is to do in-depth biographies of every player who has played at least one game in the major leagues.  A Herculean-task no doubt as www.baseball-almanac.com lists the number of people who have achieved this feat at 16,219.  The site is a work in progress, and the long story short here is that of the 1,454 bios that have been completed, two are of former Maverick baseball players.  Gary Mielke's bio appears here.  And Jerry Terrell's bio is available here.   They're still working on bios for Bob Will and Todd Revenig.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Soccer Team Giving Back To Community

The Minnesota State soccer program returns to the friendly confines of The Pitch at Gage Towers this weekend after a three-game roadtrip.  The Mavericks open competition Saturday at Noon against Minnesota, Crookston before hosting MSU Moorhead Sunday at 1 p.m.

Despite the action on the field, the Mavericks have been busy in the community as well.  This afternoon (Friday) the Mavericks will host the  hold a clinic with the Mankato United Top Soccer Program, a group which teaches soccer to students with special needs in the Mankato Area.  Head coach Peter McGahey, sophomore Cassie Weik and redshirt freshman Ashley Sjkora stopped by the KEYC Studios Thursday afternoon to discuss the event.  You can see footage of their inteview, HERE.

Additionally, Saturday, the Mavericks will wear pink uniforms in honor of those who are battling breast cancer and those who have survived the disease.  The weekend concludes Sunday with Youth Soccer and Tops Soccer recognition day.

Minnesota State, owners of a four-game winning streak, stands 7-4-1 on the season and 5-1-1 in the NSIC.

Friday Readings

As mentioned last week, crossover season officially begins this weekend with the start of men's and women's hockey.  In four and a half weeks, the  Maverick wrestling squad will take the mat when they participate in the Iowa State Open.

Senior Ben Becker returns to the mat this year for the Mavericks after a 20-17 season last season and earning his second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.  Becker, a 174-pounder from Fort Dodge, Iowa, joins 125-pounder Andy Forstner as the only seniors on the Maverick wrestling squad this season.

Speaking of Becker, he has recently been named a finalist for Cosmopolitan Magazine's 2010 Bachelor Blowout, an honor which he was nominated for by his sister.  Robb Murray of the Mankato Free Press penned a piece on Becker and Cosmo and it appeared in today's paper.  You can read the story, HERE.  You can also read Becker's bio on Cosmo's website, HERE.

Speaking of the Free Press, Shane Frederick wrote a piece on Maverick senior captain Ariel Mackley.  The article, which can be found HERE, discusses the hockey exploits of Ariel and her older sisters Brittany (who played at MSU from 2004-08) and Melissa (who played at Gustavus from 2006-10).  Additionally, Freddy also wrote this piece on Rylan Galiardi in today's paper, you can find the link HERE

In the event you missed Maverick Magazine (airs every Friday during the school year on www.kmsu.org and 89.7 fm) PA and I sat down with the one and only Casey Lloyd to discuss the 2010 Minnesota State Hall of Fame ceremonies.  The show – which is available on podcast – can be found HERE.  I invite you to sit back, pour yourself a big bowl of Green Chilli, and enjoy.

The St. Cloud Times took a look at the connection between Minnesota State AD Kevin Buisman, St. Cloud State Head Coach Scott Underwood and Minnesota Duluth AD/Head Coach Bob Nielsen.  The story can be found HERE.

Finally, as mentioned in a previous blog post, the Traveling Training Kit is up for grabs this weekend.  Check out a video below to see how important the kit is to several of Minnesota State's seniors.

Happenings

There's a buzz in these parts these days.  The Wild season is about to start (Thursday vs. Carolina in Helsinki, Finland). And, obviously, in addition to Randy Moss heading back to play for the Vikings, the Minnesota Twins host the Yankees in the first round of the American League play-offs beginning tonight at Target Field.

Speaking of the Twins, one of the commercials that's received regular play talks about grass roots baseball in the state.   Youth baseball, high school baseball and amateur ball.  Take a close look and you will see Maverick head baseball coach Matt Magers featured for a split second throwing for his town team in Gaylord, Minn. He's the southpaw in the purple #33 at the :13 mark.   It's great to be a Maverick!