Thetas win fourth Little 500

As rain poured over Bloomington Thursday night and into Friday, there was speculation about whether the 16th women's Little 500 race would take place.\nBut Mother Nature gave the riders a break, stopping the rain in time for ridable -- but undesirable -- conditions allowing history to take place later that afternoon in front of 9,500 spectators.\nUnder an overcast sky, Kappa Alpha Theta became the first team to win four women's Little 500s. From the sixth position, it took the women of Theta 1:10:25 to complete the 100 laps necessary for the victory -- four seconds faster than second place Roadrunners.\n"It's incredible," sophomore Nicole Vincent said minutes after finishing the race. "I'm still in shock right now."\nIn a race that included a field filled with potential champions, competition was fierce, but it turned out to be a battle of the best. \nTwo-time defending champion Roadrunners came close to also setting Little 500 history by becoming the first women's team to three-peat, but their effort came up short when Vincent sprinted the last lap from turn three to the finish.\nRoadrunners were undoubtedly one of the biggest surprises of the race, coming from the 11th position and finishing seconds behind Theta, all without former star rider Jenn Wangerin. \nThroughout the day, teams jockeyed for the lead that was often overtaken within laps.\nBut for Theta, knowing it would contend wasn't enough. The riders knew they were among the top teams in the field.\n"Coming into this race we knew we would be in the top," Vincent said. "But I didn't know it was going to go this well."\nFor rookie sophomore Liz Milne, the thrill of winning Little 500 did not compare to what she thought it would be.\n"I'm so completely excited," she said. "I knew we would have a chance, but I didn't know it would feel like this."\nVincent, Milne and teammates juniors Katie Beyer and Leigh Frame faced the pressure of the team tradition and competition as well.\n"The women's race started out very aggressive," IUSF assistant director Alex Ihnen said. "It is more of a sprint and there is more urgency."\nThe six teams that completed all 100 laps finished within one minute and 15 seconds from the winner. And of those six all started in the top 11. \nFavored Kappa Kappa Gamma was in contention for the race until lap 63, when sophomore Meredith Horner crashed in turn three. Horner went down, and by the time she was back on her bike, the pack was a half lap ahead, too much for the Miss-N-Out champion and her team to recover.\n"We did the best we could," Horner said. "It was unfortunate we went down. We were in it until then."\nThe series event champions finished the race fourth with a time of 1:10:50.\nRounding out the top three was Kappa Delta. Starting from the eighth position, seniors Lisa Ricci, Heidi Marshall, Kim Gerbers and junior Erin White brought experience to the track. For the past two years, Kappa Delta was involved in crashes that shattered its chances of victory. This year, in one of the cleanest races in a while, Kappa Delta showed its strength and finished behind Roadrunners in 1:10:47.\nPhi Mu, decked out in green jerseys and matching green Reeboks, did not live up to expectations and finished in a disappointing 16th place. The women refused comment after the race.\nAll the training paid off for Theta, as it bypassed everyone on the track en route to the victory. Now Vincent, Milne, Beyer and Frame have their names ingrained in the holy grail of women's Little 500 cycling.\n"Four girls went out here this year, and they rode and they trained and they trained very hard," Theta coach Tom Schwoegler said. "This is their victory today. This is the best deserving team I've ever coached"