Sigma Alpha Mu looks to continue push to top of men's race

What a difference a few years can make.\nThree years ago, senior Michael Kushnick formed a Little 500 team with another member of Sigma Alpha Mu. With little knowledge of what it took to be a competitive team in the annual intramural cycling race, the team attempted to be the first from its house since 2000.\n"One of my friends and I just formed a team and then there was a third guy who we picked up who just showed up on the track and did nothing," Kushnick said. "We had no clue about quals or anything -- we just went out and did it."\nPicking up an extra man for qualifications, the Sammy team had its first taste of the level of competition at Little 500 by posting a time of 2 minutes, 58.316 seconds. After peddling four laps around the track at Bill Armstrong Stadium, the team posted the worst time of the 39 official times that day, finishing 12 seconds behind the 33rd and final qualifier for the race.\nFast-forward three years to the final time Kushnick participated in qualifications for the Little 500. His sophomore and junior year, Kushnick led the team to qualify 32nd and 23rd respectively, but this is the year he -- joined with other seasoned riders -- could finally make some noise and become one of the top qualifiers in the race.\nHis younger brother Drew Kushnick led off for the team during qualifications. Drew Kushnick flew around the track in 34.359 seconds -- the fifth-fastest first lap of the day -- before exchanging the bike to Michael Kushnick, who peddled around the track in 38.008 seconds. Fellow rider Benjamin Gerber posted a time of 37.942 seconds -- setting the stage for Drew Kushnick to make team history.\nDrew Kushnick crossed the finish line on his second lap of the day 37.786 seconds later. Sammy had qualified fifth, the best starting position ever for Sigma Alpha Mu.\nMichael Kushnick said he was thrilled with the qualification time and noted the difference between this year's team and the one that attempted to qualify his freshman year.\n"We practiced, but we didn't know what type of practice to do and we didn't put in enough work," he said.\nWhile many teams would have become discouraged and given up, the team was motivated to qualify the next year.\n"Definitely (it lit a fire)," Michael Kushnick said. "We were like, we didn't qualify this year. We went to the race to watch people we know and cheer for them. It was more incentive that we didn't want to be watching from the stands the next year."\nAfter their preparation for qualifications, the team members knew that more practice was needed. They hired former graduate student and current Little 500 Race Coordinator Lucas Calhoun as a coach. With his help and extra motivation, Sammy got on the right track to qualify the next year.\n"We were pretty down for a couple of days, but we realized we were in over our heads at first," Michael Kushnick said. "We went out and found a coach and went out and learned what we needed to do and put the work in."\nCalhoun, who no longer coaches Sammy, said the team has made tremendous strides in the past few years and has rallied the brothers in Sigma Alpha Mu to get behind the team.\n"Their strides have been tremendous -- going from not having equipment, to buying bikes to training some in a gym to more hardcore training," he said. "My goal when I worked with them was not only to build the team, but to build the house around them. That's one fired up house."\nTo Calhoun, the team is a good example of how, with enough work, the Little 500 is open to everyone who loves cycling.\n"I'm proud of any team that has a goal of saying, 'Hey, we want to be at this certain point in a few years' and then sticking to it," he said. "It's tough when you have summer breaks and things that can derail you, but these guys stuck with it."\nThe team has grown from three riders in 2003 to seven riders this year. The Kushnick brothers, Gerber, IDS employees Lee Hurwitz and Osterman, Loren Sharken and Neil Solomon comprise the 2006 team looking to score the highest finish for Sigma Alpha Mu since the 1989 team finished in fifth place.\nWhile the team is made up of fraternity brothers, having an actual brother on the team has made the experience more fun, Drew Kushnick said.\n"It's neat. It definitely brings some more competition to the team because we try to beat each other all the time and then everyone else joins in," he said. "It's definitely some sibling rivalry and it pushes you a little extra."\nDrew Kushnick, who joined the team last year as a freshman, said having the experience from last year's race will be valuable as he helps the team race for the checkered flag this weekend.\n"Last year I was very nervous out there and all. I would be asking to get in front of people and sitting in the pack," he said. "I was very defensive and I wasn't aggressive at all. So this year I will try to be more aggressive and try to get into the pack and staying in longer."\nNow that it is starting in the middle of the second row, the team is focused on doing its best on race day. The team likes its chances on race day but mentioned the uncertainty each race brings.\n"Who knows, it's race day," Michael Kushnick said. "All you do is go out and race. It's one of our goals (to win), but I don't think there is any way to put odds on your chance. It's Little 5, everyone saw what happened last year. Your day could be over before you even finish the first lap. Who knows? It's a fun day -- race day."\nEven with the final outcome of the race to be decided on the track, one thing for certain is the drive the team has to make itself the best Sigma Alpha Mu team ever.\n"It would be a serious accomplishment," Osterman said. "We've ridden in this race plenty of times, and if we could look back at the end of the year and say that we were the best Sigma Alpha Mu team to ride this race, that would be tremendous for the work we've done."\nNo matter the outcome, for Michael Kushnick. the strides the team has made in three years is something to be proud of.\n"I pretty much formed this team with another brother my freshman year," Michael Kushnick said. "We had no clue what we were doing that year -- went into quals and didn't qualify. Sophomore year, we were a little better, and last year we got two good rookies and improved in quals and put in a lot of work. This is definitely the high with qualifying fifth. It's kind of cool to see the team build, and it's going to be amazing just to leave it in the position that it's going to be in as a competitor for the years to come"