Phi Delta Theta and Alpha Chi Omega win Little 500 poles

After rain threatened to cancel the 2014 Little 500 qualifications Saturday, the weather held off for Phi Delta Theta and Alpha Chi Omega to win pole positions for the men’s and women’s races, respectively.

Phi Delta Theta recorded a 2:22.57 qualifying run to capture the 64th men’s Little 500 pole, while Alpha Chi Omega took the pole for the 27th running of the women’s race with 2:41.16.

This year marks the eighth pole for Phi Delta Theta and its first since 2009. The team’s time was 1.12 seconds faster than the second-place Black Key Bulls.

The first-place start means Phi Delta Theta has qualified in the top 10 for 17 of the last 18 years.

Alpha Chi Omega’s pole is the team’s first. Entering this year’s qualifications, Alpha Chi Omega averaged a starting spot of 13.6 in the previous five races.

Heavy rain Friday night continued through Saturday morning, flooding the track in Bill Armstrong Stadium. Puddles accumulated on various parts of the quarter-mile circuit.

The rain forced a five-hour delay, causing the regularly scheduled 8 a.m. qualification times to be pushed back to 1 p.m.

Rachel Horton, a rider for Collins Cycling, said Little 500 events are often unpredictable.

“It’s just in the nature,” she said. “We have a lot of laid-back girls, we adapt well. And, you know, it’s not ideal, but it happens.”

Consistent rain throughout the night and light drizzle throughout the qualifying day caused the cinder bike track to firm as it dried. The firm track made for ideal track conditions.

“The rain helped firm it up, made the turns firm,” Sigma Chi rider Quinn Rusnak said. “Track was the fastest it’s been all year.”

Though a number of riders said the track was as quick as it has been this season, team times were slightly slower than they were last year. This year’s men’s and women’s poles were roughly one second slower than the best times in 2013.

The spread in times was much larger this year than in recent qualifications. The spread between first and 10th in the men’s race was 5.44 seconds. The women saw a 10.13-second spread in the first 10 spots.

Black Key Bulls’ rider Jacob Miller, who swept the Fall Series earlier this year, believes the spread of the runs is a result of a large number of talented riders graduating last year.

“I think that there’s definitely less talent than in past years,” Miller said. “In terms of what to expect, I think the talent level is lower, but there are definitely guys that want to step up and fill that role.”

At times, the lack of experience in the field became evident in the qualifying runs.
Ten consecutive runs were cut short because of faults at one point in the afternoon. In total, qualifications saw 11 teams — six men’s, five women’s — double-fault during the initial qualifying stages.

Those 11 teams were forced to fight for the remaining spots during the third and final qualifying runs.

Four men’s teams — Malone Cycling, Zeta Beta Tau, Theta Chi and Pi Kappa Phi — failed to qualify for the race. For Theta Chi, this year will mark the first time since 2005 that the team did not qualify for the race.

Alpha Epsilon Phi and Pi Beta Phi did not qualify for the women’s race. Both teams faulted during their third attempts to make the field of 33.

The women’s race will include three rookie teams. Ski Club Cycling at seventh, IU Nursing at 27th and Delta Phi Epsilon at 32nd will all get their first tastes of competing in the women’s Little 500. The men’s race will have one rookie qualifier, Northern Indiana Cycling, which will start in the 29th position.

The Ski Club Cycling riders said they didn’t know exactly what to expect in qualifying. After putting the bike on the inside of row three, the first-year team was thrilled.

“We did better than we expected we would,” Ski Club rider Megan Huibregtse said. “It’s really incredible. I still can’t believe how well we did.”

The next competition for the teams competing in the Little 500 will be Wednesday afternoon with the Individual Time Trials. Riders will take to the track as individuals to see who reigns fastest in a four-lap sprint around the track.

Miller said the event won’t have a direct implication on who will be good in the race, but said he and his Black Key Bulls still want to do well.

“It’s definitely something we want to show up and do well at,” Miller said. “You know, I’m confident for Wednesday, and I’m sure others will be, too. But I’m definitely excited to go.”

Andy Wittry contributed to the reporting of this story.