Longtime Northern State director of athletics and former men's basketball coach Bob Olson has announced that he will retire at the end of the 2011-12 school year. Olson has spent a total of 37 years in the school located in Aberdeen, S.D.
Minnesota State's football team will play its final regular-season home game of 2011 when it hosts Augustana this Thursday evening at Blakeslee Stadium. The game will be broadcast live by the CBS College Sports Network and is available on Charter Mankato Channel 412, DirectTV Channel 613, Dish Network channel 152, MediaComm channel 171, Comcast channel 854. Our release regarding the broadcast is located here. In addition to game action between the Mavericks and the Vikings, the MSU women's soccer program will be the subject of a halftime feature.
Speaking of the Maverick women's soccer program, coach Peter McGahey's crew currently owns a 13-1-2 record and is undefeated in NSIC play with a 10-0-1 mark. Positioned to capture a NSIC title, the Mavericks are also poised to make a run in the NCAA Division II postseason tournament. The NSIC tournament is slated for Nov. 2-6 with NCAA regional action scheduled to get underway Nov. 11.
After posting a tenth-place finish at the regional meet a year ago, longtime men's cross country coach Mark Schuck did a bit of retooling with his program that has paid off in spades this fall. Led by the insertion of a couple of NCAA Division I transfers into the lineup in juniors Garret Eklof and Joshua Mellman, who both came from Iowa State, and the addition of freshman Josiah Swanson (Fond du Lac, Wis.), MSU captured team titles at St. Olaf and Black Hills State. The Mavericks, who finished second at the 2011 NSIC meet in Moorhead, Minn., Oct. 22nd, boast a fifth-place regional ranking and are rated 13th in the nation. The 2011 NCAA DII Central Region Championship meet is scheduled for Nov. 5 in Denver, Colo. Meet information is located here.
The MSU women's cross country team, which also participates in the NCAA DII Central Region Championship meet Nov. 5 in Denver, Colo., finished fifth at this year's NSIC championship meet and has reason to be optimistic about its future. The Mavericks had ten individuals post PRs at the league meet with ten of its 12 competitors at the event competing as freshmen or sophomores.
Disconcerting news out of Alabama-Huntsville with the school deciding to discontinue its NCAA Division I men's hockey program at the end of this academic year. The Chargers, who captured NCAA Division II titles in 1996 and 1998 and made appearances in the NCAA Division I tournament in 2007 and 2010, come to Mankato for a pair of nonconference games with the Mavericks Dec. 9 and 10 in what we will assume will be the last meetings between the two schools. A synopsis regarding the developments at UAH is located here.
And, don't forget that it's Trick or Treat With the Mavericks Sunday, Oct. 30th in Taylor Center, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free and plenty of Minnesota State student-athletes on hand to play games and hand out candy to the kids.
It's great to be a Maverick!
