The Little 500 Young Guns
Meet the young up-and-comers of the Little 500. Emma Caughlin, TeterKelsey Tharnsrtom, Alpha Chi OmegaDan Kinn, Black Key BullsMiles Johnson, Phi Kappa Psi
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Meet the young up-and-comers of the Little 500. Emma Caughlin, TeterKelsey Tharnsrtom, Alpha Chi OmegaDan Kinn, Black Key BullsMiles Johnson, Phi Kappa Psi
Meet the Little 500's veterans.Caroline Brown, Pi Beta PhiJoel Newman, Sigma NuZach Trogdon, Gray GoatAileen Ottenweller, Army Women
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When she came to IU in 2005, Pam Loebig was a freshman from Cincinnati. Six years later, Little 500 and other aspects of IU have defined her life in Bloomington. She spent time on Little 500’s Riders Council and as a student coach for Dodds House. She’s been a physiology lab assistant and a molecular biology teaching assistant.Loebig is a Hoosier of many kits. CycledelicLoebig rode for Cycledelics from 2006 to 2008. During her first two years, she rode with her older sister, Kim. In 2006, the sisters helped the team to a fifth-place finish, the best finish in Cycledelics’ eight-year history.“Little 500 was my undergraduate experience,” Loebig said. “It molded everything I did. It molded the people I met, the decisions I made, my lifestyle. It became the focal point of my time here at IU.”RedStepperDuring the fall, Loebig still trained on her bike, but she also high-stepped on the sidelines of the football games. Loebig was a member of the RedStepper dance squad for two years. Whether it was in front of alumni at Memorial Stadium or at the halftime show of an Indianapolis Colts game, her favorite part was performing as part of a team.“It’s just another way to be a part of IU’s traditions,” Loebig said.Race DirectorA race director doesn’t have a set term, but the demanding schedule of Little 500 causes most directors to leave the position after two years. Loebig is in her third year as IUSF’s race director. She coordinates everything from rules to race day with some help from the gunners and steering committee.“I realized how much the Little 500 did for me as a student and as a woman in particular,” Loebig said. “It empowered me. It taught me how to push myself further than I thought I was capable. I wanted to help others be involved and to have these opportunities and experiences on campus. It gave me so much. I wanted to give back.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>They are the elves of the Little 500. They have many jobs and, some nights, only a few hours to complete them. They are the gunners of Indiana University Student Foundation, and they do everything surrounding race day.For this year’s Qualifications, gunner Andrew Dafnos was in charge of changing the standings on the qualifications board. When the entire board was full, Sigma Chi qualified third. Dafnos had to move down 30 team boards, but he didn’t mind.“I enjoy Little Five, and I enjoy the people I’m working with,” Dafnos said. “I do it because I have a passion for Little Five.”Top-10 Jobs of a Gunner1. Timing Qualifications and Individual Time Trials on a stopwatch2. Putting two bikes and a water cooler in every pit3. Waving a flag for faults4. Setting up the parade before the race5. Gridding and painting the infield6. Calling in times7. Running the Qualifications board8. Running the ITTs board9. Hanging up pit boards10. Working as a lap counter on race daySources: The steering committee’s Katie Bukowski, Brendan Kelly and Connor Rusnack and Gunner Andrew Dafnos
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Chris Williams and Dan McCarthy live in the mystery house on Jordan Avenue.This house draws questions like: What is the Evans Scholars frat? How smart do you have to be to live there? And what’s it like inside?Evans Scholars isn’t a fraternity — it’s a house of former golf caddies, who caddied in high school for at least two years.The criteria of an Evans Scholars lies within academics, financial need and a good caddy record by the Western Golf Association. They do not have to be caddies currently, nor do they caddy for the IU golf team or even in Bloomington.Evan Scholars receive a full scholarship and live in the Evans Scholars House at 1075 N. Jordan Ave. for all four years of college.McCarthy said the Evans Scholars selection process is holistic, looking at several aspects of a candidate.“You have to be top 25 of your class,” McCarthy said. “You have to have a good ACT or SAT score, based on all the other candidates, and you have to demonstrate leadership in your community.”As for their house, it is self-governed with no house directors. It’s also coed, with 13 girls and 37 guys currently living in the house.Since they aren’t a fraternity, Evans Scholars is an independent cycling team. They could recruit riders from outside their house to ride for them or they could ride for other independent teams — but that’s not the Evans Scholar way.“A big thing with the Evans Scholars is house unity — everyone living together all four years,” McCarthy said. “Obviously nobody is going to ride with a different team or train with a different team.”Each year, the Western Golf Association selects the new Evans Scholars and places them at one of the 14 schools around the nation. Williams and McCarthy never know if their new house members will want to train for the Little 500.They have managed to put a team together since 1970 — with multiple four-year breaks in between.“Little 500 ties into the Evans Scholarship,” Williams said. “Caddying is not easy. It’s pretty grueling. You spend eight to 10 hours a day in the beating sun. In Little Five, you have to work hard. You have to manage your time, especially with us because we have a commitment academically and to the house.”In 2010, Evans Scholars qualified in 10th and — after a few crashes — finished 22nd on race day. This year, they qualified 11th.McCarthy said that although his team is unable to really pick from a large pool of potential riders like a fraternity is, it’s a motivating force for race day.“We want to be just as a good as the Betas and the Sigma Chis and the Cutters,” he said. “So we have to make do with what we have, which is exactly what the Evans Scholarship is all about, making do with what you have and making the best of it.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the summer of 2009, Eric Stearley found himself alone among a house of brothers.His fraternity, Sigma Pi, had been kicked off campus, and his Little 500 bike team went with it.The rookie rider knew how important a cycling team would be to the bonds of brotherhood when Sigma Pi was allowed back on campus in the fall of 2010, so he set out to rebuild a program.The bikes Sigma Pi had were in disrepair and funds were dry, so Stearley turned to the only people he knew could help: his brothers.He called alumni riders and brothers to ask for donations, raising close to $2,000 for team kits and other team gear. He lobbied Sigma Pi’s Executive Council to set aside social funds for the bike team. And his brothers backed him the whole way.Now a junior, Stearley is on a team with three freshmen. All four riders have no Little 500 race experience.Freshman rider Nick Donato said the bike team has been important to the rebirth of Sigma Pi, especially since they did not think they were good enough to qualify.“Sigma Pi used to be pretty prestigious in cycling,” Donato said. “We got kicked off and lost some of our riders who would have been on the team. It’s like a new beginning since we’re all so young with three freshmen. It’s just another brick of building Sigma Pi back up to what it used to be.”Donato attributed the rebuilding of Sigma Pi cycling to Stearley.“I’ve never met a harder-working and committed guy than him,” Donato said. “He is juggling 17 credit hours and a job and the cycling team, but he found us sponsors. He’s a good leader and he’s good at pushing you. I hate him while I’m out there cycling, but that’s a good thing because he’s pushing me.”This wasn’t the first time Stearley took the reins of something he badly wanted. In high school, he was the only swimmer for his high school. He and his athletic director worked together to allow Stearley to train with another team but race for his school. “The swimming kind of started and ended with me, sadly,” Stearley said. “Unfortunately I couldn’t really build that up like I’ve done with the cycling team.”But what happened with his swim team, Stearly said, won’t happen with his cycling team.“I’m training these freshmen to take it over when I get out of here,” he said. “I don’t want to seem like I’m the sole responsibility for it. Obviously there are seven other guys who I couldn’t do this without. There’s no such thing as a one-man Little 500 team. I see a long life with Sigma Pi Cycling.”On March 26, the day of Qualifications, Sigma Pi members sat for close to an hour, holding their breaths and watching their time card move down the qualifications board. Their time of 2:40.23 was 15 seconds slower than the team at the top of the pole.It would be good enough for 33rd place.“It’s a very young team, for sure,” Stearley said. “There’s not a lot of experience, but it’s going well. We don’t expect huge things this year just because we’re rebuilding. We’re trying to get back up where we used to be as a top-10 team. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s definitely enjoyable.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ken Nowakowski yelled splits at his Delta Tau Delta riders as they came out of turn four of their first heat. The Delts coach stood with his left foot forward as an IU emergency medical technician attempted to wrap Nowakowski’s back leg.Though Nowakowski was injured, he was doing his job. These splits were important to his team, a squad that would later go on to win Team Pursuit, the final Spring Series event.On the previous lap, Black Key Bulls’ rider Jack Rich had rubbed tires with his teammate, causing him to shoot off the track and directly at Nowakowski. The BKB rider and Delts coach collided, throwing Rich from his bike and leaving Nowakowski’s right foot bloodied.As the heat continued, Nowakowski shook the EMT from his foot as he watched his team round turn four again.“The team needed me,” Nowakowski said. “I’m not going to back away from the team. I was fine. I wasn’t hurt. Even if I couldn’t stand, I’d be laying on the ground calling their splits.”At the end of the heat, Delts finished with a time of 9:10.19, good enough to send them to the finals where they would meet Sigma Chi, who had finished with a time of 9:08.21 prior to the final heat. It was a 10th of a second faster than the Cutters, who missed the final heat for the second year in a row.Final HeatDelta Tau Delta — 9:07.39Sigma Chi — 9:09.91
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Will Bruin no longer charged down the field with the ball at his feet. Rich Balchan no longer defended the backfield. Andy Adlard no longer flipped after the goals.Three IU men’s soccer players from last season were gone, now playing on their respective Major League Soccer teams. However, that didn’t stop the post-Bruin squad from scoring five goals in a lopsided 5-2 win against Evansville, its first of two spring season home games on Jerry Yeagley Field. Senior Alec Purdie scored two goals and junior Joe Tolen also stood out. Tolen ended last season with momentum, scoring the game-winning goal against Northwestern and earning IU the Big Ten regular season title. “People are looking at me to lead a little more,” Tolen said. “I really do like that. I’m trying to take advantage of it and just guide the younger players as much as I can.” On Friday evening, Tolen played only the second half. But that didn’t stop him from scoring two goals in his first four minutes and assisting Purdie’s final goal.Bruin, Balchan and Adlard combined scored 25 goals last season — Bruin owned 18 of them. IU coach Todd Yeagley said to produce those goals next year, the scoring will have to be spread throughout the team, not just one person. “It’s not going to be another Will,” Yeagley said. “You don’t replace 18 goals. You do it by getting 10 to 20 to 30 percent more scoring from four to five players.”Despite the 5-2 win, Yeagley said he still hopes to see a change in the team’s personality.“We need to get a dominate personality,” Yeagley said. “We’re still not tough enough mentally and physically.”Still, Yeagley sees promise in a team that lost three players to MLS, yet still beat Evansville 5-2.“One game, five goals,” Yeagley said. “I’m not going to overreact that we’ve got solutions to 18 goals and (seven) from Andy, but I do feel we’re going to be pretty dynamic and have a lot of different ways to beat teams.“
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Seven days remain until the start of the Little 500. But before the race begins, a Spring Series champion must be crowned.Team Pursuit, the final Spring Series event before the Little 500 race, is set to start at 1 p.m. Saturday at Bill Armstrong Stadium.Two teams will face off in a 12-lap race for the women and 15-lap race for the men. The team must ride in a pace line. It’s an event where a team is only as fast as its third-fastest rider, since the clock doesn’t stop until three team riders have crossed the line.The two fastest teams compete in a final heat to determine the winner.In 2010, Gray Goat Cycling finished seventh in Team Pursuit with a time of 9:38.59. Senior rider Ryan Kiel said the event is more about conserving energy than riding fast.“It’s a little bit longer lap set than ITTs (Individual Time Trials),” Kiel said. “When you’re with a group of four riders, it’s really about doing your work on the front of the pack and knowing when to pull off smooth rotations and keep the group tight. It’s also a little more strategy than there is in ITTs where it’s just ‘Go fast, turn left.’”Last year, Teter and Phi Delta Theta won Team Pursuit. The Team Pursuit winner, for both sides of the field, has finished in the top three on race day for seven of the last nine Team Pursuit competitions.Delta Chi third-year rider Will McDermott said the event is a good measure of a team’s depth.“Even though it’s only 12 laps, 15 laps overall, it’s a good indication of your overall team and your top three riders,” McDermott said.This year’s event will determine who wins the white jersey, given to the team awarded the most points from Spring Series events. In the standings, Teter currently leads Delta Gamma by three points. The Cutters are ahead of Phi Delta Theta by 13 points.“I’ve gotten school set up so I can take it lightly during the next few weeks,” Kiel said. “As a senior, most of the butterflies don’t come anymore. For me, it’s just business as usual.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It took three hours and 205 cups of chocolate snack pack pudding for Brice Fox and Daniel Weber to fill a baby pool for one small portion of their newest video.The stars of the YouTube Hoosier videos “IU Anthem” and “This Is Indiana” had one last idea on their senior checklist to cross off, and they needed pudding to make it a success.IU tailgates: been there. Hoosier basketball: done that.All that remained in Bloomington was the Little 500 — and one pudding match — to describe the World’s Greatest College Weekend.Weber and Fox didn’t just want a song about being on a bike or riding with no handlebars. This one was going to be about the Little 500 experience — or as they like to call it, iLL 5.The video is debuting Friday on YouTube and the song will be free to download through a link with the video.“iLL 5 represents the fictional, magical five days that precede the Little 500 race,” Fox said. “It consists of crazy, outrageous events. And basically, iLL is just like a slang term for cool, so it’s like the cool five days before the race.”***On the second floor of a house on Hunter Avenue, Weber is jumping around the bedroom-turned-studio of Daniel Olson, better known as DJ O.He’s running through his part again, trying to get the words down.“And the party don’t stop / Cuz every night lookin’ like GLOWfest / Every day lookin’ like no rest.” Weber hums the line over and over.DJ O’s eyes haven’t really moved from his side-by-side Dell screens. His mouse travels across his mouse pad in erratic patterns. He tweaks the beat and puts some last-second changes to the mix.Fox and Weber bob their heads as they listen.As the beat ends, Weber, in his “FAME” Dope Couture shirt, throws on a pair of shutter shades.“Whatever, we make mediocre songs,” Weber says with a grin. “Get over it.”Fox walks to the mike and throws the headphones on to begin recording.“Indiana’s in the house tonight / Here to party for the Little Five,” Fox sings.And with just one line, the two seniors record another IU tradition into an anthem.***Weber stood in the garage of a house nicknamed “The Mansion,” waiting for the party to get started for one of many video shoots.“We wanted to get a big vat from Sam’s Club, but they stopped selling them today,” Weber said. A kiddy pool of chocolate pudding sits on the concrete floor behind him.“We went to Wal-Mart, and in the end, left them with one cup of chocolate pudding. Brice and I ripped them open label by label. It took forever.”The small pool of chocolate pudding was eventually added to a bigger inflatable pool. More flour, water and premade pudding was added to the mix until the crowd of more than 40 people agreed it was enough. It was time for pudding wrestling.“Yo, we’re gonna start the first round right now,” Fox said.As female contestants lined up with just two pieces of clothing remaining, Fox and Weber and their fans, who were invited via Facebook, sang along to iLL 5. Two videographers from Winky Productions tried to shoot video from their Canon cameras while avoiding stray pudding and the chocolate-covered arms that flailed near their cameras’ edges.“I would definitely say it’s more edgier,” Fox said later about the song. “It’s definitely something that caters toward the students than the family.”The same can be said about the video. Dressed in their iLL 5 T-shirts, Weber and Fox found their way into the pudding with the girls.“We understand ‘This is Indiana’ reached out across the nation,” Weber said. “Whereas this is our turn to make really fun dance-pop music. The song is intended to speak out to students and incoming freshman.”As the bass rattled the garage doors and the pudding traveled further from the tub, the techno beat stopped. And the two words that Fox and Weber yelled on the recording made everyone cheer.“GET WASTED!”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When Grace Wallace told her dad three years ago that she would be attending Butler University the following fall, he only had one regret.“He was like, ‘My only regret is you won’t have the big sporting events like at IU.’ Then I come here and obviously sports are a huge deal,” the BU junior said.An hour before the doors opened at Hinkle Fieldhouse beneath the “Hoosier Sky,” a line of Butler fans had formed, reaching several blocks past the parking lot’s edge — and that was just one half of the queue. The other half extended toward fraternity row, meeting the first group in the middle, at the entrance door of the historic basketball stadium.Lauren Allen, an IU-Purdue University Indianapolis student who is looking to transfer to Butler, played a game with 8-year-old Julia Fryrear.The game: concentration.“The category was anything,” Fryrear said. “But just because Butler is in the national championship we’re only saying Butler things.”More than 1,000 miles away, senior forward Matt Howard was focusing his concentration as his Bulldog team warmed up for its second-straight appearance in the NCAA Championship game. Arms bobbed in the air, drums banged and just like one year before, “Don’t Stop Believing” filled Hinkle Fieldhouse.Unlike 2010, though, there was no No. 1 seed left in the tournament. No Coach K. No “this is just a Cinderella story” team.There was No. 3 Connecticut against the No. 8 seed from the Hoosier state.Just minutes before tipoff, Chris Port was all smiles. The sophomore goes to IU but said he has been a Butler basketball fan with his family for his entire life.“I’m from West Lafayette,” Port said. “I’ve always hated Purdue.”Port said his decision to come to IU was based on his admission into the Kelley School of Business and the price tag of an education at Butler. “I’m definitely a huge IU fan,” Port said. “In the next couple years, IU will be back to this level. You got to believe.”As 3-pointers rained down in Houston, the fans in Indianapolis remained on their feet.They chanted with the student section on television. They yelled at the referees and donned T-shirts that read “Sorry for Bracket-Bustin.”They chanted, “B-U, T-L-E, -R YOU A BULLDOG? ... HELL YEA!”Malachy O’Connor said he has been a Butler fan since the 1960s, growing up on the north side of Indianapolis.In the ’60s, O’Connor said he cheered on the Hoosiers, and he said he still does.“Butler has gotten to the pinnacle,” O’Connor said. “IU’s program needs to be turned around, and that’s what a star like Cody Zeller — with his background — will bring to Indiana.”On Monday night, O’Connor sat in the same section he had one year before, watching the 2010 National Championship game. This year, he said, the ending would be different.“I have a good feeling about Butler tonight,” O’Connor said.As the game continued, Wallace cheered from the front row with her sorority sisters. Then came missed shot after missed shot from their beloved Bulldogs.Connecticut pulled ahead as the Butler fans stomped their feet in frustration and locked their fingers behind their heads in disappointment.As the clock ran out on the Bulldogs’ season with the scoreboard showing a 12-point Connecticut victory, a lone voice came over the loudspeaker.“Do not hang your head, Butler University. Make some noise for your Butler Bulldogs.”One final chant rang through the halls of Hinkle.“B-U, T-L-E, -R You A Bulldog?”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Cutters’ Eric Young rode through the crowd, being patted on the back and congratulated for his finish in Miss-N-Out. He finally stopped when he got to his coach. Jim Kirkham smiled.“I got it,” Young said with a laugh. “Finally. Check it off the list.”The Little 500 list for Young really only had one thing left — winning Miss-N-Out.As a sophomore, Young placed second in the event. As a junior, his bike had mechanical problems.When the final lap of Saturday’s Spring Series event started, the senior was sitting on the back wheel of Phi Delta Theta rider Steve Sharp, the defending Miss-N-Out title holder.They pedaled through turn one and two before meeting a wall of wind on the backstretch. That’s when Young made his move.“I knew it was going to be windy — it would be hard to accelerate there, so that’s where I was going to accelerate,” Young said. He pulled two bike lengths ahead of Sharp before turn three. As he came close to the finish line, Young didn’t rotate his pedals.“I just coasted,” the Cutters veteran said. “I looked back and they were kinda ... back, so I figured I’d kind of shut ’er down.”All that remains on Young’s senior Little 500 checklist is winning the white jersey (awarded to the team with the most points) and a third-straight Little 500 championship, which would be the fifth-straight for the Cutters’ team. As for Saturday, he was more congratulatory of his team than celebratory of his own success. “We had Kevin (Depasse) get into the semifinals and that was his first time doing the event so that’s pretty rare,” Young said. “Then Hank (Zach Lusk) made the finals and he’s never made the finals before so that was very cool.”The Fourth Man OutSigma Chi’s Adam Fish thought he had it by a wheel. It was the final heat and he only had to survive one more lap before the neutral lap. When the pack crossed the start/finish line he knew it was close between him and Black Key Bulls veteran Jordan Bailey.“I was surprised and a little disappointed,” Fish said. “I wasn’t disappointed with the results, but that a close call was the thing that knocked me out.”Fish said he was knocked out by Sharp, Young and Bailey.“Overall, Jordan was really strong and I was with him in the two previous heats,” Fish said. “When you’re in the race, you have tunnel vision. It’s hard to really know what’s going on around you. I knew it was close, but I understand there had been close calls all day.”As for the rest of the day, Fish and his Sigma Chi team had three riders in the final 16.“We would have liked to have had all three in the finals,” Fish said. “But it’s not the race; it’s just Miss-N-Out and we’ll have another chance to compete on race day.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Walking in the front door of his home, it’s evident. Junior Brad Murrell lives in a jungle.A 6-foot long stuffed animal boa constrictor guards the top of the couch. Two spotlights with green bulbs cast an earthy look to the room while a laser-printed sign greets those who enter, “Welcome to the Jungle.”During Welcome Week last fall, a party at Murrell’s house got out of hand. From then on, his roommates and friends deemed the house “The Jungle.”By September, he and his three senior roommates decided they wanted to participate in a third IU tradition — besides drinking and basketball. They wanted to ride in the Little 500. They named their team #JungleExpress.Senior Dusty Moloy’s last time around Little 500 was when he watched the race freshman year, which he said was so long ago he barely remembers it.When spring semester rolled around, the four roommates went through Rookie Week together.“It was ugly,” Murrell said.“We looked hideous,” Moloy added.On Saturday, with yellow war paint smeared beneath their eyes, #JungleExpress qualified 22nd with a time of 02:35:41, beating nine fraternity teams and eight more that didn’t even qualify.“I’m excited just to race in it,” Moloy said. “I feel like we’re physically fit. We just had to put the right pieces together.”Those pieces started with a fan base. The team decided to add a hashtag in front of its name for one reason — Twitter.“We use it to talk to our fans about everything — buying tickets, telling them what color jersey we have,” Murrell said. “We are incredibly social media-friendly.”The next piece is to learn more about the race.“The race director emailed all the teams about turning in designs for a pit board. I didn’t know what that was, so I Googled it,” Murrell said. “We didn’t know much about Miss-N-Outs, ITTs or Team Pursuit so we YouTubed them to see how they all work.”No matter what social media tool #JungleExpress has to use to sharpen the team members’ skills for race day, they said they aren’t surprised that they shocked the Little 500 world by making it into the race.“Yeah, we’re an amateur team, but we’re just happy to be in the race,” Murrell said. “We have a “Why not us?” kind of mentality. We want to be the team people can root for when they don’t have a house or friends on a team.”In 15 days, #JungleExpress will don a yellow, green and red kit in the 61st running of the men’s Little 500. And for the three seniors, it’s the best way to end their time at Indiana.“It’s really just the icing on the cake,” Moloy said.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The goal is to not be the last back tire to cross the line.On April 2, Little 500 riders will compete in Miss-N-Out — the third of four Spring Series Events before the races.Wednesday’s Individual Time Trials ranked the fastest riders in the Little 500 community, but it also contributed to the heat line-ups for Miss-N-Out. The top 15 riders are placed on the inside row in the front for each heat, giving them the shortest distance around the track.The rest of the field is dispersed throughout the heats with the fastest riders placed closer to the inside of the track. The last bike to cross the start/finish line after each lap misses out until the fourth-to-last rider is eliminated.The top three riders move on to the next heat.Last year, Teter’s Caitlin Van Kooten and Phi Delta Theta’s Steve Sharp won Miss-N-Out.Van Kooten placed first in Wednesday’s Individual Time Trials and swept the Spring Series Events last year. Sharp placed sixth in the 2011 ITTs.
Individual Time Trials is the first event of the Spring Series after Qualifications. It’s one of the events Teter’s Caitlin Van Kooten won last year. This year wasn’t any different, with Van Kooten finishing at the top with a time of 2:39.41. Like Van Kooten, Cutters’ Eric Young repeated his work from last year, also defending his title finish first with a time of 2:22.
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For seven hours of Saturday’s Little 500 Qualifications, the Cutters stood alone at the top of the pole — uncontested.Then Sigma Nu showed up.Last season, the Cutters took the pole and won Little 500 by .01 of a second. Their four-straight Little 500 victories almost crowned them the automatic pole leader this year.But the team that finished eighth in last year’s race was done taking a back seat. With a time of 2:25.91, SNU members topped the Cutters’ 2:26.46 to chants from their brothers.“I know that we were kind of off the radar as far as the cycling community in Bloomington goes, but we’re definitely a strong team,” senior and SNU captain Joel Newman said.A tweet from Eric Young was the first response from the Cutters. “... crazy! SNU better be ready to get passed before turn 1,” Young tweeted.“We’re going to be the trash talk around the playground,” Newman said. “We just want to have a good race.”During the Cutters’ 8:20 a.m. qualifications attempt, the track was slow and loose. A rider from a competing team had already slid out on a turn.Sophomore SNU rider Brice Brookshire said the team had practiced sitting on the bike around loose turns to help with tough track conditions.By the time SNU qualified at 3:25 p.m., the track was faster and the cinders were more compact.SNU’s highest qualification in the last 10 years was in 2004 when it took second. It poled 21st in 2010, but this year it’ll start race day leading the pack.“We’re just as fast as anybody,” Brookshire said. “We all expected to go in there and win.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Qualifications is the first Spring Series Event of the Little 500 season. On the women’s side, 32 teams tried to qualify. On the men’s side, 46 teams tried to qualify for 33 spots.The final results are in.Men’s Side1. Sigma Nu 2:25.912. Cutters 2:26.463. Sigma Chi 2:26.714. Phi Delta Theta 2:27.895. Delta Tau Delta 2:28.036. Black Key Bulls 2:29.097. Beta Theta Pi 2:29.278. Air Force 2:29.339. CRU Cycling 2:29.4010. LAMP 2:31.1611. Evans Scholars 2:31.8112. Gray Goat Cycling 2:32.5113. Delta Sigma Pi 2:32.7714. Theta Chi 2:32.8015. Kappa Sigma 2:33.3816. Delta Chi 2:34.1117. Phi Kappa Psi 2:34.1618. CSF Cycling 2:34.2319. Dodds House 2:34.6420. Hoosier Climb 2:35.2221. Achtung! 2:34.9022. #JungleExpress 2:35.4123. Emanon 2:36.2724. Phi Kappa Sigma 2:36.2925. Sigma Phi Epsilon 2:36.3626. Delta Upsilon 2:36.7627. Wright Cycling 2:36.8428. Sigma Alpha Epsilon 2:36.9729. Sigma Alpha Mu 2:37.8930. ACACIA 2:38.2731. Pi Kappa Alpha 2:38.7132. FIJI 2:39.6533. Sigma Pi 2:40.23—Completed attempts but did not qualify for the raceBeta Sigma Psi 2:40.29Lamda Chi Alpha 2:40.31Pi Kappa Phi 2:41.76Team Dark Horse 2:42.35Alpha Epsilon Pi 2:42.61Zeta Beta Tau 2:43.17Phi Kappa Tau 2:43.48Delta Kappa Epsilon 2:44.88Phi Sigma Kappa 2:46.75Corean Legstrong 2:49.62Rainbow Cycling 2:59.54Forest DNQWomen’s side1. Delta Gamma 2:44.762. Teter 2:47.523. Army 2:48.744. Wing It 2:50.005. Kappa Kappa Gamma 2:51.246. Alpha Gamma Delta 2:52.007. Pi Beta Phi 2:53.918. Phi Mu 2:54.209. Delta Zeta 2:54.6010. Gamma Phi Beta 2:55.3511. Kappa Alpha Theta 2:56.9812. Chi Omega 2:57.2913. Cru Cycling 2:58.4014. Alpha Chi Omega 2:58.6015. Alpha Xi Delta 2:59.2516. Ride On 2:59.4917. Kappa Delta 2:59.9018. SPQR 3:01.5419. Team Revolution 3:01.9820. Delta Sigma Pi 3:02.6621. Mezcla 3:03.4322. Alpha Delta Pi 3:04:0823. Delta Delta Delta 3:07.9224. Last Chance 3:09.8925. Alpha Phi 3:09.9826. Zeta Tau Alpha 3:11.2827. Team Gluff 3:12.5428. Air Force 3:13.9529. Alpha Epsilon Phi 3:15.8730. Rainbow Cycling 3:17.2531. Sigma Delta Tau 3:26.8832. Alpha Omicron Pi 3:23.42
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Qualifications is the first Spring Series Event of the Little 500 season. On the women’s side, 32 teams will try to qualify. On the men’s side, 46 teams will try to qualify for 33 spots. Every exchange, every pump of the pedals and every millisecond counts. Check back for the latest updates.Men’sSigma Nu 2:25.91Cutters 2:26.46Phi Delta Theta 2:27.89Delta Tau Delta 2:28.03Black Key Bulls 2:29.09Beta Theta Pi 2:29.27Air Force 2:29.33CRU Cycling 2:29.40LAMP 2:31.16Gray Goat Cycling 2:32.51Delta Sigma Pi 2:32.77Kappa Sigma 2:33.38Delta Chi 2:34.11CSF Cycling 2:34.23Dodds House 2:34.64Achtung! 2:34.46#JungleExpress 2:35.41Emanon 2:36.27Phi Kappa Sigma 2:36.29Sigma Phi Epsilon 2:36.36Delta Upsilon 2:36.76Wright Cycling 2:36.84Sigma Alpha Mu 2:37.89ACACIA 2:38.27FIJI 2:39.65Sigma Pi 2:40.23Beta Sigma Pi 2:40.29Lamda Chi Alpha 2:40.31Pi Kappa Phi 2:41.76Team Dark Horse 2:42.35Alpha Epsilon Pi 2:42.61Delta Kappa Epsilon 2:44.88Corean Legstrong 2:49.62Rainbow Cycling 2:59.54Women’sDelta Gamma 2:44.76Teter 2:47.52Army 2:48.74Wing It 2:50.00Kappa Kappa Gamma 2:51.24Alpha Gamma Delta 2:52.00Pi Beta Phi 2:53.91Phi Mu 2:54.20Delta Zeta 2:54.60Gamma Phi Beta 2:55.35Kappa Alpha Theta 2:56.98Chi Omega 2:57.29Cru Cycling 2:58.40Alpha Chi Omega 2:58.60Alpha Xi Delta 2:59.25Ride On 2:59.49SPQR 3:01.54Team Revolution 3:01.98Delta Sigma Pi 3:02.66Mezcla 3:03.43Alpha Delta Pi 3:04:08Delta Delta Delta 3:07.92Last Chance 3:09.89Alpha Phi 3:09.98Zeta Tau Alpha 3:11.28Team Gluff 3:12.54Air Force 3:13.95Alpha Epsilon Phi 3:15.87Rainbow Cycling 3:17.25Sigma Delta Tau 326.88
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Little 500 track can’t be too dry. It can’t be too wet. It’s almost like porridge; it has to be just right.Qualifications, the first spring series event of the Little 500 season, will take place Saturday at Bill Armstrong Stadium. On the men’s side, 46 teams will try to qualify for 33 spots. On the women’s side, 32 teams will attempt to qualify.The forecast is predicted to be a high of 44 degrees with a 30 percent chance of rain, according to www.weather.com. Even a small amount of rain will make the track surface tighter, making it a faster track. That is the track condition Teter rider Caitlin Van Kooten said she likes.“When we broke the Quals record a few years ago, it had been sprinkling on and off all day,” said Van Kooten, whose Teter team has taken the pole three of the past four years. “You want it good and damp — so when people ride on it, it creates a groove and it’s hard like cement and you can glide across it.”Track conditions are important for the riders. A dry track is loose, slow and hard to ride. An extremely wet track ends up being sponge-like and also slow.For teams that are close in times, the weather conditions are extremely important. For others, it’s the quality and pace of exchanges.“For the field as a whole, Quals will also be about riding ability and control,” Van Kooten said.Another theory on qualifying includes what the best time of day is to try and qualify, morning or afternoon.Phi Kappa Psi rider Pat Kinn said the afternoon is the best time to ride.“Going late in the day, we don’t have to sit around all day and watch our time get bumped, and then we can see how many teams we’re above when we qual,” Kinn said.Last year, Phi Psi Cycling finished second in the pole, 1.05 seconds behind the Cutters. This year they have their qualifying time at 5:05 p.m., while the Cutters will make their qualifying run at 8:20 a.m. Phi Psi has qualified for every one of the 60 Little 500 men’s races, and the team is confident about its 61st race.“We just got to do exactly what we do in practice,” Kinn said. “Total, it’s really only 2.5 minutes long, but it’s the true countdown to race day and the first chance to see how your team stacks up against the others.”
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When photos posted Feb. 28 on the Internet showed Cutters’ rider Eric Young cycling with Bissell, a professional cycling team, uproar spread throughout the amateur Little 500 community. In the photo, Young led the pack, a smile on his face, chin toward the sky, adorned in a red-and-white kit labeled “Bissell.”Grey Goat’s cyclist Ryan Kiel saw the photos and called a meeting of Little 500 riders to discuss Young’s recent ride, but he didn’t initially contact the four-time defending champion Cutters. It was a unique situation; Little 500’s dominant team was suddenly at the center of an eligibility controversy, with the best rider in the pack seen practicing with professionals. Riders and Little 500 administrators are expressing concern that the rules concerning a rider’s professional status are vague as they currently stand and need revisions, once and for all.Kiel assembled the riders, but not everybody wanted to hear the Cutters’ reaction.That didn’t stop senior Cutter rider Zach Lusk from hearing the news through the grapevine and attending the meeting anyway.“We walked in the room,” Lusk said. “Ryan turns bright red instantly, and he even said to open the meeting, ‘Well, there were 20 to 30 guys that were going to come but were intimidated when they knew you were coming.’”Lusk said the Cutters’ input was crucial to the situation.“The thing is, if it’s really about a rule change for the future, then why not ask our team to come?” Lusk said. “Just include us in it. We have a lot of knowledge about the race.”Kiel said he eventually contacted the Cutters and Little 500 Race Director Pam Loebig to ask them to the meeting.The proposed rule change, which would make Young’s recent ride with Bissell an eligibility violation, is at the center of an ongoing controversy in the Little 500 world: What defines riders as professional, and when are they too good to be eligible for the race?The current IU Student Foundation rule states that no Little 500 cyclist is allowed to be a member of a professional team. Even though Young trained with Bissell and accepted its kits, he is not a member of the Bissell team, Lusk said. Loebig confirmed that to her knowledge, Young hasn’t broken any rules.“We have a rule that you cannot be a professional rider, but it’s pretty vague language,” Loebig said.The current rule is in IUSF’s Little 500 Rules of Eligibility section II.I. It states that a student with no cycling experience prior to attending IU can participate in the Little 500 and can upgrade to a category I or II rider — considered as a semiprofessional rider — for a year. Before racing as either category, a rider must file an appeal with IUSF.Last year, Young was a category III rider.Young is now in his first year as a category I rider, the highest rank. Kiel is a category II rider, meaning he had to file the same appeal to ride in this year’s race. They are both riding with their respective teams from last year and because of their category upgrade, neither will be eligible for next year’s race, but both are graduating seniors.But it’s not just about the rules.Lusk said there are members of the community who are disappointed that in their time in the race, nobody but the Cutters has won. Because the Cutters have been so dominant, everything is under more scrutiny.“Matt (Kiel) even said it at the meeting that during his time at the race, nobody else has ever won,” Lusk said.But a rule can’t be made against a single person; the existing rule must be amended, Loebig said.The riders who attended the meeting wrote a petition to change the rules for the future. The petition states that any rider who becomes involved with a professional team — whether that consists of riding with or taking money or equipment from — would lose his Little 500 eligibility.It’s a rule change that, if passed by Riders Council and IUSF, won’t go into effect until the 2012 race.By next year’s race, some members of the Little 500 community think Eric Young will be well into a contract with a professional team — one, many believe, that will begin the day after this year’s Little 500 race on April 16.“He’s played by the rules,” Lusk said. “There is a grey area to the rules. Even he’ll admit it, but you have to take into account: He’s just a very exceptional case to the rule. Yeah, I’m definitely biased because he’s on my team, but you can’t take away the fact that he’s worked to get where he’s at.”During the past four years, the Cutters have been accused of cheating, recruiting and fielding a professional rider in what is known as an amateur collegiate race.Currently, IUSF has no official procedure in place for Little 500 rule changes. Loebig said they would first need to create a specific procedure before accepting or denying the petition.Since it is Little 500 season, Loebig said the procedure and any rule changes would have wait to be worked on during the summer.“Ryan’s a hell of a rider,” Lusk said. “But it’s almost comical he brought this up in the manner that he did.”However, as a co-captain, Lusk said he is glad Young is creating the need for stricter Little 500 rules.“It doesn’t frustrate me,” he said about Young. “I’m glad that he does. He really understands the race, like how it’s set up, the rules, stuff like that.” As for handling the rest of their team and their pre-race mentality, Lusk and Young have told their teammates to ignore the community gossip. Lusk is, however, interested in who’s going to sign the petition, he said. And this time, it’s something that can’t be hidden from him and his team.“Apparently, you have to call Ryan to sign it,” Lusk said. “Ultimately, it will come to Riders Council, and I’m on Riders Council, so I’ll know about it.”