Today Mike and I went out to the track for the first time to watch practice. Mike immediately recognized that the bleacher layout will be different this year. We talked to IUSF Director Jenny Bruffey and Race Coordinator Matthew Ewing about the seating change, which occurred because of the construction taking place on the practice soccer fields next to the track. The only real change is that the bleachers will wrap around turns 1 and 2 (on the east side of the stadium) to form a horseshoe of seating.
Before we arrived at the track, we were told that there was a major crash during men's practice which shut down the track for nearly 45 minutes. A rider form Zeta Beta Tau crashed and had to be taken away by an ambulance. We will let you know once we find out his condition.
Other than the crash, practice seemed to go well. Many teams were working on getting timing down for the exchanges. The teams we talked to were excited, but a little nervous, for qualifications this Saturday. The favorites according to the riders we talked to today for the men seem to be Cutters, Dodds House and Black Key Bulls. For the women they are Alpha Gamma Delta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kappa Delta and Kappa Alpha Theta.
Check back later in the week for a qualifications preview.
