STARKVILLE - Mississippi State's $3.2 million track facility will get a grand unveiling.

Fresh off one of its strongest seasons ever, MSU announced Monday that it will host the SEC/Big Ten Challenge on March 26, 2011. Eight teams will participate in a competition pitting the two leagues against each other: MSU, Ole Miss, Florida and Kentucky from the SEC; Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State and Purdue from the Big Ten.

"I hope it turns out to be a real big deal," MSU coach Al Schmidt said.

Having it televised on an ESPN affiliate or Comcast would help make it a bigger deal. That's Schmidt's hope, although a contingency plan would be to have it carried by the Big Ten Network. He said it will also be streamed online.

MSU's track facility is being overhauled, and the new look will include a track surface from Beynon, which outfits Olympic venues as well as college facilities. Schmidt said the surface will be certified by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which means MSU in theory could host an international meet.

State will host three meets next season.

"We're hoping to have as many big meets as we can," Schmidt said. "We'd have the state meet in high school if they'd let us. We're going to try to make it available to every big competition we can find."

The meet was Schmidt's brainchild, and he believes it to be the first of its kind in the SEC. He said most of the teams quickly jumped on board.

MSU recently completed competition at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, where the men finished in a tie for 17th place. The Bulldogs were ranked ninth in the country heading into the meet and return a bevy of highly ranked sprinters next season. The men's 4x400 relay team finished second at the NCAA meet.

Contact Brad Locke at 678-1571

or brad.locke@djournal.com.