Teams prepare for time trials

The women's Little 500 teams finally get the chance to see where they stand as they take to the track in Bill Armstrong stadium for qualifications Saturday.\nQualifications start at 8 a.m. and teams must complete four laps, each rider doing one lap. The fastest 33 times make the field for the race April 20. Once the first round of qualifying finishes at 4:25 p.m., second and third attempts start for those teams who made errors or had a slow time in their first attempt.\nDelta Zeta took the pole last year with a time of 2:42.22, with the Roadrunners and Alpha Delta Pi completing the first row. \nSenior Sara Herman is a member of Alpha Delta Pi's team, which is running in the 2001 version of the race. She said that qualifying is important but that it won't break a team to do poorly.\n"It's nice to be in the front of the pack and avoid wrecks that are common in the women's race," Herman said. "It's not the race if you do bad but it is an advantage."\nDelta Gamma qualified 15th for last year's race and moved up 10 spots to finish fifth. Team member senior Sarah Crider said its starting position didn't deter the team, but if the team would have been farther back, there could have been problems.\n"Qualifying can be important, but it can't be, as well," Crider said. "If you're on the outside of the row, 15th and up, you're safe, but if you're stuck in the middle, that could cause problems."\nQualifications is the fourth of eight events in the Rita Erickson points system, where each team is given points based on its performance, ending with the Little 500. After competing in pre-race events, teams want to get on the track and race.\n"We're not as much nervous as we are anxious," Crider said. "You know what you can do so you just want to get out there and get it over with." \nCrider emphasized the importance of exchanges between teammates to run the fastest possible lap.\n"Not only is it turning a fast lap but all four riders need to have clean, safe exchanges," Crider said. "Weeks before quals we emphasize exchanges rather than pack riding."\nExperience for riders is key when it comes to the exchanges. Because so much time can be gained and lost when switching, teams have been putting a lot more preparation into the switch and rookies have been taking advice from veteran riders.\nJunior Mike Nierengarten is the coach for Alpha Chi Omega's team, which has two rookie riders and two veterans. Nierengarten said the experience helps with the preparation, but it also helps with the comfort level during the qualifying runs.\n"The experience helps out in the fact that of being comfortable because they have been there before," Nierengarten said. \nNierengarten said the physical condition of the team is a factor in how well it will run Saturday.\n"The team went to Gainesville, Fla., and did a training program and did time trials and sprints," Nierengarten said. "It's only one lap but you need to be in condition for that one lap."\nBecause the track at Armstrong stadium varies from year to year, some teams aren't shooting for a specific time.\n"Times vary from year to year because of the track conditions," Nierengarten said. "It really depends on the weather and the track conditions."\nThe qualification results aren't necessarily a prediction for the outcome of the race, Crider said.\n"Qualifying in the top five doesn't mean the top five finishers," Crider said.