Mississippi State hosted the inaugural SEC/Big Ten Challenge on the brand new track Saturday. The Big Ten won the women’s competition with 379 points to the SEC’s 349, and the Big Ten men also conquered the SEC with 399 points versus the SEC’s 337.
MSU led the way for the SEC in both the men’s and women’s competitions, while Ohio State led the way for the Big Ten in both sections.
The scoring breakdown for women’s competition was Ohio State first for the Big Ten with 123, Indiana next with 102.5, Purdue with 89 and Illinois bringing up the rear with 64.5. For the SEC women, MSU led women from both conferences with 142.5, followed by Ole Miss with 93, Georgia with 62 and Auburn with 49.
The breakdown for men had Ohio State leading for the Big Ten and overall with 117, followed by 112 for Indiana, Purdue with 92 and Illinois with 78. MSU was just one point behind Ohio State with 116, followed by Ole Miss with 109, Auburn totaling 66 and Georgia notching just 46 points.
Head Coach Steve Dudley told MSU media relations the crowd support was a factor in the outstanding performance for MSU.
“The crowd was unbelievable today,” Dudley said. “People got excited and that really helps motivate these athletes. There were times where you couldn’t even see the fence line. There was a person in every spot all the way around, plus people in the stands. That was huge. Our kids love that, and it pushes them to give it their all.”
Cowbells were certainly clinging all day long, and several MSU runners and relay teams gave MSU reason to do so.
Nationally-acclaimed Tavaris Tate had a bit of an off day by his standards, still recovering from a hamstring injury, but performed extremely well for the home crowd nonetheless. Tate finished second in the 400-meter with a 46.61 posting, third in the 200-meter dash with 20.87 and anchored the stellar 4×400-meter relay team. The decorated 4×400-meter relay team took a convincing first place finish with a time of 3:05, which is outstanding this time of year considering the national championship time was 3:00.89 last season.
Tate is proud of the team’s effort, but believes MSU will continue to improve as the season moves forward.
“The team overall, we came out and represented MSU well. We have been working hard for the past few weeks for this meet. We had some good teams come in here,” Tate said. “Overall as a unit, considering the weather and the outstanding competition, we competed well … Everybody got a taste of what each and every one of us are capable of doing, but like I said, the season is just starting; the fans should just keep their eye on everyone going forward.”
The rest of the 4×400-meter relay team consisted of O’Neal Wilder, who is a returning All-American but was limited to the 4×400-meter team because of an offseason surgery, Daundre Barnaby, who also garnered third place in the open 400-meter race behind Tate with a time of 47.04, and James Harris, an outstanding freshman who also got second in the high jump with a tall mark of 7′-03¾” and anchored the 4×100-meter team.
Returning All-American Emmanuel Mayers also had a strong day for the Bulldogs, finishing first place in the 400-meter hurdles and fourth in the 110-meter hurdles. Ed Wesela got second in the shot put for the Bulldogs and seventh in the discus throw. Antoine Lipscomb did a little bit of everything for the Bulldogs scoring in the 110-meter hurdles, the long jump, triple jump and the shot put.
Lipscomb believes team unity and more support from the fans have helped this team.
“We’re really growing closer, and we have a lot of team spirit,” Lipscomb said. “We need to continue what we’re doing, and keep the atmosphere strong. Going forward, we need more spirit and really get the fans even more involved with track and field.”
The Bulldogs had several distance runners score with Adam Lenz garnering fifth place with a time of 8:36 in a highly competitive 3,000-meter, Matthew Cameron and Carter Hewitt fifth and sixth in the 1,500-meter run and Nathan Lewis and John Valentine sixth and seventh in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, respectively.
The MSU women were led by Richesa McCaleb who won the 100-meter with a time of 11.8 and got second in the 200-meter with a time of 23.56. Taneisha Baker also scored in the 200-meter with a time of 23.75, good for fourth place. Haley Greenwell won the 3,000-meter quite convincingly with a time of 9:56. Chloe Phillips got second for the Bulldogs in the 1,500-meter and also scored in the 800-meter with a sixth place finish. Rochelle Farquharson placed second in the triple jump and long jump with marks of 41′-05¾” and 19′-06¼” respectively. The 4×400-meter relay team consisting of McCaleb, Baker, Brittany Covington and Jody-Ann Muir posted a second place finish with a time of 3:41.68.
The Bulldogs performed well on both the men’s and women’s sides and, with the hard-working attitude of the teams, are certain to continue to improve. They host another meet Friday, the Bulldog Twilight Invitational, as both teams look to improve upon their season bests.