The Southwest Minnesota State Mustangs (also SMSU Mustangs and formerly Southwest State Mustangs) are the athletic teams that represent

Southwest Minnesota State University Southwest Minnesota State University (SMSU) is a public university in Marshall, Minnesota. It is part of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System. The university has an enrollment of approximately 8,700 students and employs 148 fa ...

, located in

Marshall, Minnesota Marshall is a city in Lyon County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 13,680 at the 2010 census. Marshall is a regional center in southwest Minnesota, and the county seat of Lyon County. It is the headquarters of the Schwan Food Com ...

, in

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

intercollegiate sports. The Mustangs compete as members of the

Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the western Midwestern United States. Nine of its ...

for all 14 varsity sports. SMSU has been competing since 1969, but has been a part of the conference since the Northern Intercollegiate Conference and the Northern Sun Conference merged to form the NSIC in 1992.

Varsity teams

List of teams

Men's sports * Baseball * Basketball * Cross Country * Football * Track & Field * Wheelchair Basketball * Wrestling Women's sports * Basketball * Cross Country * Golf * Soccer * Softball * Tennis * Track & Field * Volleyball

Sports culture

The student

booster club Booster clubs are organizations in schools at the high school and university level. The clubs are generally run and organized by the parents of the students in the supported organization in high schools, and by athletic supporters and fans at col ...

for basketball is the Mustang Maniacs. Their slogan is, "Our team loves us and our opponents fear us". An annual basketball tradition is Hawaiian Night, which usually coincides with the Winter Meltdown festival held during the second week of the Spring Semester (which lasts from early January through early May).

Non-varsity sports

Intramural sports

Intramural sports Intramural sports are recreational sports organized within a particular institution, usually an educational institution, or a set geographic region. The term, which is chiefly North American, derives from the Latin words ''intra muros'' meaning " ...

include badminton, basketball, flag football, floor hockey, broomball, racquetball, softball, tennis, ultimate Frisbee, and volleyball. The Mustang Rugby Club competes in the Minnesota Rugby Union (USA Rugby) and won the Minnesota Division III Championship in 2002. Recently the Mustangs Rugby Club won the Minnesota Division IIIB championship in 2010.

References

External links

* {{Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference navbox