MSU To Show Off New Track Surface At SEC/Big 10 Challenge
STARKVILLE, Miss. – It’s a state-of-the-art, Olympic certified surface track fans can see first-hand on Saturday as Mississippi State hosts its first meet in nearly four years.
It’s a meet, however, that’s anything but ordinary. In fact, you can call it historical as Saturday marks the debut of the inaugural SEC/Big 10 Challenge.
This event, the first of its kind, pits four SEC teams (Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Auburn and Georgia) against four squads from the Big 10 (Ohio State, Illinois, Indiana and Purdue) in a conference vs. conference showdown at the Carl Maddox Track facility.
The challenge, which is free to attend, gets underway at 9 a.m. with the women’s hammer, while the running events are slated to begin at 1 p.m. The day will conclude with the highly-anticipated 4x400-meter relay, which the Bulldogs are ranked No. 3 nationally after finishing second last June at the NCAAs in Oregon.
The format, using the international scoring system, will crown both a men’s and women’s champion. In each event, first place will be awarded 10 points, second 8 points, third 6 points, fourth 5 points, fifth 4 points, sixth 3 points, seventh 2 points and eighth 1 point. All the points earned will be pooled together to the appropriate conference to determine the winners.
“We are so proud to finally be able to show off our facility,” MSU director of track & field Al Schmidt said. “The administration gave us everything we wanted, and it was our intention to have an event of this magnitude mark the opening. But we wanted to make sure we had teams everyone could identify with and teams that have historically had strong programs. Hopefully, this will be the first of many.”
Making the meet intriguing is the fact rivals such as MSU and Ole Miss will basically team together for the SEC. Indiana and Purdue will do the same for the Big 10.
“You’re going to see some athletes out there this weekend that you’ll see later in the Olympics,” said MSU head coach Steve Dudley, whose men’s team enters the meet ranked No. 8 nationally. “I think fans will find the format exciting. We always talk about conference pride, and that will be evident on Saturday.”
In addition to the Bulldogs’ ranking on the men’s side, Ole Miss comes to Starkville at No. 13, followed by Auburn at No. 18 and Georgia at No. 23.
On the women’s side, Auburn is No. 10 and Indiana is No. 23.
“We’re looking forward to this,” said MSU junior O’Neal Wilder, who enters the weekend ranked. “There seems to be that rivalry between the SEC and Big 10. I think it’s going to be the start of something great. The competition will be outstanding.