A mother of a Mount Mercy basketball player asked me a few months ago why we were covering Coe College on the Metro Sports Report website but not the Mustangs.

It was a fair and legitimate question. Both schools have quality sports programs and are neighbors on the northeast side of Cedar Rapids, so why one and not the other?

"Just wait a few months," I told her. "It's in the works. We plan to add Mount Mercy to our lineup as soon as possible."

Today is the day.

As president of the Metro Sports Report, I am delighted to announce that the MSR has added the Mustangs to our website as we continue to focus on the schools and teams right here in Cedar Rapids and Marion.

We launched the Metro Sports Report in January of 2011 with extensive coverage of the seven major high schools in the Metro area. Since then we've added Cedar Valley Christian, Kirkwood, the Kernels, the Roughriders and Coe.

And now we've gladly added Mount Mercy to the mix, giving us a nice blend of what's happening in our own backyard.

I've been asked a few times about adding the Cedar Rapids Titans football team, but we're not ready to head in that direction quite yet.

We've had to be careful with the Metro Sports Report website. We are a small company with limited resources, and before we expand in a new direction we have to make sure we have the time and people to pull it off properly.

When we cover a school or team, we like to dive in as deeply as possible. We're not looking for superficial coverage. We want to dig into the issues, write feature stories and cover as many events as possible.

That takes resources, and I'm confident we're ready to begin doing that with Mount Mercy.

The Metro Sports Report has received more than 3.7 million pageviews since we launched the website in 2011. Some people have described us as a "niche" product because we "only" cover the teams in Cedar Rapids and Marion, but I think you'll agree it's a pretty good niche.

Mount Mercy University is a member of the NAIA - National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics - and is also a member of the Midwest Collegiate Conference. The Mustangs offer 15 varsity sports and give athletic scholarships.

Mount Mercy is a Catholic liberal arts university that was founded in 1928, so the picturesque school has been serving the community for quite some time. The Mustangs have approximately 1,800 students from all over Iowa and the world, creating a melting pot of ideas and energy.

This should be an interesting time to start covering Mount Mercy, which has acquired 22 acres to build a new stadium for soccer and track, a new baseball field and a new softball field as part of its "Home Field Advantage" campaign.

The estimated cost of the project is $15 million and fundraising is well under way, although a completion date has not been announced. The architectural drawings and virtual reality tour of the project are spectacular.

Mount Mercy has been forced to practice and play all over town without its own facility for soccer, track, baseball and softball, but that's going to change.

We also plan to delve into the future of the Midwest Collegiate Conference. There are currently seven teams in the league, but Grand View and William Penn plan to leave in 2015 for the Heart of America Conference.

What will that mean for Mount Mercy? What will that mean for the MCC?

There are also numerous feature stories we want to write about coaches, athletes and teams. There are lots of events we'd like to cover, and we invite you to come along for the ride.

We'll be working closely with Mount Mercy athletic director Scot Reisinger, sports information director Jason Furler and the coaches to bring you all the news about the Mustangs.

If you've used our website before, you know how it works. We'll be posting stories about Mount Mercy on our main home page at MetroSportsReport.com, but the Mustangs will have their own school page and all 15 of Mount Mercy's teams will have their own team page.

We've added Mount Mercy to our menu of schools and teams at the top of the home page. Simply click on Mount Mercy and you'll go to the Mount Mercy school page. From there, you'll have access to a dropdown box that lists all 15 team pages. Simply select the page you want.

Trust me, it's easy.

Welcome aboard, Mustangs. We're glad to have you on our team now.