Life Cycles

Late Friday afternoon, the IU community experienced a range of emotions on both sides of the campus.\nUp on the north side at Bill Armstrong Stadium, thousands cheered on Kappa Kappa Gamma rider Jess Sapp's sprint to the finish line to seal her team's fifth overall title. There was elation in the faces of the riders as they celebrated near the finish line and on the faces of Kappa sisters as they ran around the track for a victory lap.\nBut during the race, a press conference announced the names of five IU music students who died in a plane crash early Friday morning. To those close to them on the south side of campus at the Jacobs School of Music, there were no tears of joy in victory -- only ones of sorrow at the loss of their friends and colleagues.\nMost IU students (especially Little 500 riders) most likely had no idea the crash occurred until it was referenced in a moment of silence before both the men's and women's races.\nThis kind of tribute has been a staple of the Little 500 the past two years. With the event culminating the end of the school year and being a long-standing tradition at this University, it's a fitting stage to publicly recognize and honor these students.\nLast year, the Little 500 recognized the deaths of Kappa sister Ashley Crouse and IU student and National Guardsman Brett Hershey with a moment of silence. And this year, in addition to the music students, the prayer before the race referenced the recent deaths of junior Christine Wampler and Delta Zeta's Nicole Birky, who also had green and pink balloons released before the race in her honor.\n"We see the Little 500 as a celebration of life," said Little 500 director Rob Rhamy. "Although unfortunately these students perished, this is a chance for us to celebrate their life and pay respect to that."\nFor the riders, the race can transcend the athletic competition from one of bicycles and strategy to one of life and love.\n"This is a race of life," said Kappa rider Colleen Groth. "I get off the bike and I feel alive. That strength makes you thankful for and appreciate the lives of Ashley and all those other people."\nDelta Zeta wore green wrists bands with 'BIRKY' written on them during the race.\n"It made it a lot more of a meaningful day because it made it more than a race," said Delta Zeta rider Amanda Marquet. "The race isn't the important part as much as doing it for Birky ... we can look up and see the balloons and know she's up there. We look down at our wrists and it's another constant reminder. Every time we looked at the crowd, they all had green bowties. Green's the color we've dedicated to her. Everywhere we looked, it was constant motivation to keep going no matter how tired our legs were."\nShortly after the women's race, the sun broke on a day that was overcast all morning and afternoon. Was it Crouse and Birky and all the others smiling down on their peers for a job well done?\nWe'd like to think so.