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(04/23/10 3:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The checkered flag waved, the crowd flooded the walkway and one by one, members of Delta Tau Delta’s cycling team grabbed the fence surrounding the track at Bill Armstrong Stadium.They lifted themselves up and threw their bodies into the arms of brothers and fans. They smiled, screamed and celebrated their finish in the race — second place.Among riders, it’s joked about as the most celebrated second-place finish in the history of the Little 500, but Delta Tau Delta riders were celebrating their fraternity’s highest finish in Little 500 history last April.“It was a culmination of really three years of work,” senior Jon Myrvold said. “Our goal this year is to just have everybody ride well and in position on the last lap for the win. That’s really all we can ask for.”Like Delts, Phi Gamma Delta wants to be in good position in the pack for the final lap of the 60th running of the men’s Little 500.“Especially with a forecast of rain, it’s going to be critical to stay in the front,” junior Fiji rider Rett Deinlein said. “Hopefully by staying in the front, we’ll put ourselves in the position to win.”While Fiji has placed in the top eight for five of the last six years, Delts struggled to crack the top 30. Phi Delta Theta’s cycling team is a different story. Since 2007, they have placed 14th, 15th and 15th, respectively.This spring season, Phi Delt showed up to the competition like a top-10 team, winning Team Pursuit and placing three riders in the finals of Individual Time Trials.“Two years ago, we kind of came into the race ... we thought we had higher potential than we really had,” senior Phi Delt rider Baxter Burnworth said. “Last year, I think that the race kind of got taken away from us, so we prepared this year so we would not have that happen again. Last year’s finish was much worse than we deserved, which that’s Little 500.”Another race under its wheels made Phi Delts aware that being stuck in the pack is not an option this year. Burnworth said the team ideally wants to ride clean and be in a good position to be the first to cross the chalked line on the track.But then again, that’s Delts’ and Fiji’s idea, too.“It’s racing to win,” Myrvold said. “The Cutters are one team, in the past three years the most dominant team on the track, but it is a race against the 33 teams on the track.”
(04/20/10 5:58pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Growing up only five months apart, Mindi and Rich Balchan have always been close, even though they aren’t biological siblings. As kids they played every sport they could, and while at Carmel High School, they competed on the soccer pitch.They both chose to attend IU, but once they set foot on campus they chose different paths: Mindi, a sorority and Rich, IU athletics. But it only took a semester for both their paths to cross at Bill Armstrong Stadium.While Mindi pedals her Schwinn bicycle around the cinder track of Bill Armstrong Stadium, she stays toward the inside lane, and only a cement buffer stands between her and more than 100 yards of green grass.To most people that grass is just that — a field in the middle of the complex that contains America’s Greatest College Weekend’s race. But to Mindi that field is where she watches her brother run in the fall, kicking a soccer ball to his Hoosier teammates during the men’s soccer team’s home games.Rich said seeing his sister and him in the same vicinity is rare. Between training, competing and separate groups of friends, they spend little free time together, even though they live only two minutes apart. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t close.“Whenever we see each other, it’s like no time has passed between the last time we saw each other,” Mindi said. “Sometimes girls will make jokes like ‘Oh, we should have the whole soccer team over for dinner because you have the hook-up.’”During the fall semester, Mindi spent hours before her brother’s games tailgating with the soccer players’ parents, watching the team play and even driving to and from North Carolina to watch the team’s final game of the season during Thanksgiving break. But as Little 500 creeps closer, Rich has spent his fair share of time around the Little 500 track.Sitting in the stands that look over the pitch he’s accustomed to playing on, Rich took in the sights of Miss ’N Out. As Mindi rounded the track during the third round of the event, Rich couldn’t sit and passively watch his sister pedal past. He rose to his feet as it seemed apparent Mindi’s rear bike tire might be the last to cross the finish line.With his hands behind his head, Rich was silent until the announcer called out that rider 37 had been eliminated. Luckily, Mindi wore number 8. Unfortunately, Mindi couldn’t hold on any longer and was eliminated the next lap.***About a year ago, Mindi hopped on a Little 500 bike after a few of her Alpha Gamma Delta Cycling teammates had complications that left them unable to race. On a whim, Mindi decided to complete her rookie hours, thinking one year she might want to race in Little 500. But at that time, she was training for a different race: the Little 50.Mindi’s mom, Patricia, still remembers the phone call from her daughter telling her parents to come watch her at Qualifications.“We know soccer but we know nothing about this,” Patricia said. “We came down to quals and she’s on a bike and she’s riding.”The sight of Mindi riding a bike was as much of a shock to Mindi’s dad as it was to her mom.“As a child, she didn’t really like riding bicycles,” Daryl Balchan said. “I doubt if she put four miles on the bicycles we bought her when she grew up.”Both of Mindi’s parents were also surprised that their only daughter joined a sorority; they describe her as an intense student who takes her studies extremely seriously. Daryl said he is glad Mindi has the balance of academics, athletics and social activities.But Mindi still knows where her priorities are. “If I have to go on a ride and I have a test, then I guess I just won’t be sleeping a lot that night because I just have to get it all done,” she said.As for her brother, Mindi is content to hang around Rich and his teammates away from her track and his pitch.
(04/20/10 5:38pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With a basketball in hand and a bike helmet on his head, senior Nick Kappas stands north of campus. Just a little more than a week is left until the bicycle race that the entire IU campus waits for all spring. Kappas already traded his sneakers for cleats, his basketball for a bike and a warm-up jersey with “Indiana” across the chest to a training jersey with “Achtung!” emblazoned on the front.Kappas grew up dreaming of playing basketball at the collegiate and professional levels.When Kappas set foot on campus in 2006, his dream was still alive.Coming off a high school senior year when his team lost in the regional championship, Kappas was ready to set his sneakers to the hardwood of Assembly Hall. He was not recruited by the Hoosiers, nor had he declined offers from any other Division I schools, but none of that mattered to Kappas. He just wanted to wear the seven letters of his school across his chest.***Then-coach Kelvin Sampson told Kappas he would have to go through the walk-on process, but he had no problem with that. He just wanted to dribble in another game.But that next game never came. In his first training session, Kappas ran down the court of the Student Recreational Sports Center, playing a pick-up game. During a jump shot, his entire life changed with one twist of his knee. “My doctors thought it was my MCL and my LCL but it wasn’t at all ... but I was doing physical therapy as if those were loose to tighten them up,” he said.The pressure on his knee caused it to crack three times before Kappas decided to seek another opinion at the bone and joint center.“Within 30 seconds the guy was like ‘Yeah, you tore your ACL,’ so I had an MRI that day,” Kappas said. “It showed that I had completely torn the ACL in half.”From there, he began a new round of physical therapy to actually treat his injury. Every day for six months, Kappas attended physical therapy where he sat on a bike for an hour in the morning, when most freshmen are getting ready for their first class.His shoes firmly pressed against the pedals, Kappas pushed his legs down and around — the motion was supposed to heal his ACL and gain back his rotary strength. With every pump of his legs and turn of the wheel, Kappas moved closer to becoming the Little 500 rider he is today.“It got to the point where pedaling was more fun than running or walking,” he said. Playing for Sampson and the Hoosiers was still an option for Kappas, but when March rolled around, he said he declined a spot on the team, refusing to risk the ability to ever play another sport non-competitively.***By this point in his freshman year, Kappas had pledged the fraternity Alpha Sigma Phi, and the rhythm of the bike gave Kappas the idea of one day competing in the Little 500. With his basketball career done, he decided he would rather spend the rest of his time in college on two wheels.In his sophomore year, Kappas joined two other brothers to put together the fraternity’s first team in five years, but they were unable to qualify.Fellow Alpha Sig teammate Dane Rigney wanted to ride again the next year. But Kappas couldn’t find any interest among the rest of his brothers, leading him and Rigney to join Rigney’s older brother’s team, Achtung!.“It’s called Achtung! because when it was started eleven years ago, it was when U2 came out with their “Achtung Baby” album, and every single guy on the team loved U2,” Kappas said. “In German, it means ‘Caution’ or ‘Look out’ ... so it’s kind of fitting.”For Kappas, the thrill of Little 500 is enough to ease the pain of his freshman year.“Little 5 has given me the opportunity to go down these hills anywhere from 40 to 50 miles per hour when I’m really pushing it,” Kappas said. “It just gives you a sense of freedom. You’re just rushing down this hill and the wind’s blowing through your face. You don’t hear anything but you breathing. You don’t see anything, just see trees flying by and the road in front of you.”***Although Kappas was Achtung!’s fifth rider last year, Rigney said Kappas will be a contender on race day 2010.“He’s worked way harder than he ever did before,” Rigney said. “He really wants to help our team do better than we did last year.”Sitting in the crowd at last year’s race were Kappas’ mother and father, both IU alumni. Wendy Kappas said that although her heart hurt for her son after his basketball injury, she’s proud of where the wheels of his bicycle have taken him.“I’m a firm believer of ‘what can’t kill you, makes you stronger,’” Wendy said. “Even though this happened, it made him sit back and reevaluate. It just shows that instead of dwelling on the past, he can recover and just move on, and that’s just the kind of kid he is.”Before his injury, the only time Kappas had heard about the collegiate race that takes place at IU was in an article in a newspaper back home.“I didn’t know the craziness of the greatest college weekend and the intensity that happens with it, but much like every other IU student, I quickly got wrapped up in it,” Kappas said. “This entire experience showed me that even though I can face a life-altering experience, I know that I have enough strength to get up, find something new that I love and keep going forward. Little 5 has really taught me that.”
(04/19/10 3:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As if riding a bike for more than 15 hours a week wasn’t enough, Little 500 riders senior David Richardson-Rossbach and junior Jordan Bailey also test their endurance on the pavement and in the water.Both men are veteran triathletes. Combined, they have invested more than 11 years swimming, biking and running.As cycling teams geared up for the last spring series event before race day, the two riders prepared for the U.S.A. Triathlon Collegiate National Championship in Lubbock, Tex. The elements of Lubbock and this weekend’s weather washed away any hopes of a traditional race for both riders.PRE-RACE WARMUP The rain came and went until Friday evening, but nothing could stop these two riders’ tires from hitting the pavement. Keeping their tires on the ground was a different story, though.Twenty-five mile per hour winds blew. Rain came in a downpour. They pedaled for about 10 miles until a set of railroad tracks changed their whole day. Riding side-by-side, they began to cross the tracks until ruts on both sides of the rail sent the riders flying. Their bike tires destroyed, both riders went down.Richardson-Rossbach fell in front of Bailey. As he swerved, the front end of Bailey’s bike flew up, throwing him to the ground.“Dave ended up cracking his top tube and he also snapped off his shifters,” Bailey said. “Of course it was 5:30 in the evening and there were no bikes shops open.”After a crash earlier in the week on the Little 500 track, a fall in Lubbock was not what Richardson-Rossbach wanted. This race was his last shot on the collegiate circuit to face other riders who had to juggle school and cycling. His final attempt was over before race day even began.“I’ve gone over railroad tracks in all sorts and kinds of conditions, in rain and larger groups at higher speeds and I felt totally confident in my ability to get over those railroad tracks safely,” Richardson-Rossbach said. “It took me a couple minutes to realize the bike was not ride-able and once that happened I was just livid.” THE BIG DAYA water temperature of 54 and an air temperature of 46 combined with a light rain did not stop the Nationals race. Richardson-Rossbach decided to only swim and only for fun. His spirits and his bike broken, his fiber top tube cracked and his shifters snapped, Bailey and 1,200 collegiate triathletes suited up for race day.“I’ve never in my six years of doing this have raced a triathlon when it’s been that cold before,” Bailey said. “It was just crazy, crazy cold.”While the swimming portion of the triathlon was shortened from 1500 meters to 700 meters, Bailey knew that the parts of his body that weren’t covered by the wetsuit would most likely go numb in the chilly waters. A six and a half minute swim put him in 20th place and going into the cycling section of the competition. “Right out of the bike course, there were two hills and I started doing work on them and passing people,” Bailey said. “The wind was ridiculous on all sides. Most triathletes are terrible bikers so they were just getting pushed all over the road.”At this point, Bailey used his strength from Little 500 training to pick up ground and by the eighth mile, he sat in fourth place.“In Texas, it’s fairly flat for the most part so you can see far in most directions,” he said. “I could see the leader in front of me, and I timed it and he was about 30 seconds in front of me.”His wheels turning across the pebble and gravel crushed roads of Lubbock, a 40 mph tailwind propelled Bailey past another cyclist and into third place. That’s when bad luck turned from Richardson-Rossbach to Bailey. Punctured by a sharp piece of gravel, Bailey’s back tire went flat.“I pulled over and I knew my race was over,” he said. “I’m convinced — at how fast I was going with the tail wind — I would have caught the leader and probably have been able to transition into first.”Instead, Bailey sat on the side of the road for 30 minutes until a couple picked him up and drove him into town to his family and IU teammate. Jordan’s mom Kris said she was saddened about the mishaps that happened to her son’s weekend, but she knows the triathlon was a learning opportunity.“Sure it’s disappointing, but so much of it is life lessons,” Kris Bailey said. “Knowing that he’s come away with maybe some other nugget of knowledge about racing that he could apply to another race at another time, then that’s what’s been gained.”Bailey and Richardson-Rossbach were both disappointed by the results this weekend. Now their sole focus is on a race five days away.“Those were the worst triathlon conditions I’ve ever been in with 46 degree temperatures, 54 degree water temperature and 25 mph plus winds,” Bailey said. “I’m ready for anything next week. If it rains on Saturday like they’re predicting, but it’s going to be 75 degrees, I’m fucking ready for it.”
(04/16/10 3:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Delta Sigma Pi placed third and second in the past two Little 500 races. The next logical place is first. But with three rookies riders, they’re struggling to even know what a true pack looks like on race day.Senior Arianna Breackner is hoping for a top finish, but with only one veteran rider, she is being realistic.Since Breckner was a freshman, DSP has consistently moved up in the top 10. Although Breckner did not start riding until she was a sophomore, between her first and second year on campus, DSP moved up four positions on the pole.Their time only increased by seven seconds.Last year, Breckner and her teammates finished in the second-place spot, with a time almost a minute slower.“I feel like I have seen all sides that you can in Little 5,” Breckner said. “When I started training, I was on a team with five girls, a very strong five girls. They were girls who were very focused and very determined, which was great for my first year riding because they were able to introduce me to the intensity that’s needed to train for Little 5.”The following year, the number of girls who wanted to ride began at 11 and jumped around until it finally settled on five. But last year was last year, and Breckner knows that. She has to know that, because this year, she is the lone veteran of the team.“It’s really, really hard to understand what race day is like until you’re in the race,” Breckner said.Inexperience is not slowing sophomore Megan DeMarco down. She said she realizes to cross the finish line, she had to start somewhere.“I can honestly tell from the first week I was on the track, I was gosh-awful,” DeMarco said. “Every week that goes by, I’m getting so much more comfortable and so much faster, and I can stick to a lot more people’s wheels.”Sophomore Christine Melloy might not have the experience, but the spring series results she produced gives Breckner a little foundation in the building of her race day team.After seeing the race her freshman year, Melloy knew being on the track was the only option for her second Little 500. Melloy’s training comes from last year’s DSP riders, but she said the alumni are not putting pressure on the rookies to perform at last year’s time.“We know we’re a top-10 program, just because we had a couple of strong finishes,” Melloy said. “Top-three would be amazing, but there is no pressure. Everyone knows we have three rookies and we’ve been working our hardest, so there isn’t like, ‘You have to do it’ kind of thing.”Senior Lindsey Winter will take her second shot at the Little 500 after an injury sidelined her before last year’s race was a month away.Winter, along with DSP’s two other rookie riders, is not sure what to expect on race day, but they trained to expect the unexpected.“We want to stay with the pack and follow the pack, and when we’re out on the track practicing right now, we’re staying with the top teams,” she said. “We just want our names to be recognized with the top teams since we’ve done so well over the past years.”
(04/13/10 9:55pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Regardless of being on a Little 500 Schwinn bike for just his second year, Cutters’ rider Zach Lusk is not too worried about how his team will compete.“We do have the same four riders that we did last year,” he said. “It’s definitely a little confidence boost, but at the same time we know that a lot of the other top contending teams have all their riders returning.”Lusk, along with teammate Michael Schroeder were the only two Cutters in the semi-finals of Miss ’N Out. Heavily-favored teammate Eric Young was eliminated from the race after his chain broke in the second round. Miss ‘N Out and the other spring series events have proven that the field of this year’s men’s race are strong.“You can look at the qual times, and there are six teams that would have taken the pole last year with their times,” Lusk said. “I think the race is going to be a lot faster this year than last year, but we’re definitely feeling good.”So far, their good feeling had them qualify in the first pole position after the teams’ 10th Little 500 title. Winning qualifications gives the team the green jersey, but the team already has the yellow jersey for winning last year’s race. Lusk said the team will wear the yellow jersey.A combination of yellow and green does not seem to be in the lineup, either. The Cutters team’s goal is to eliminate the green and white jersey, given to the winner of the spring series events, from the row guide for race day.“One of our goals at the beginning of the year was to get all three jerseys so nobody else could wear them,” Lusk said. “Kind of cocky, but at the same time, it’s just hard to accomplish something like that. We just want to add that to our resume.”
(04/12/10 4:16am)
Teter junior rider Caitlin Van Kooten did not wake up Saturday morning
with only the Little 500’s spring series event Miss ’N Out on her mind.
First, she had to conquer her E370 exam. But not even expending brain power for Statistical Analysis for
Business and Economics could stop Van Kooten’s back tire from crossing
the finish line first, marking the second Spring Series Event in a row
the Teter junior rider has won.
(04/10/10 10:15pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Teter’s Caitlin Van Kooten pulled away from her challengers early and Phi Delta Theta’s Steven Sharp won the 2010 Miss ‘N Out. The win was Van Kooten's second straight Spring Series victory this year. Only two weeks remain for the 60th Men’s Little 500, and one day less for the Women’s Little 500.From first in ITTs to first in Miss ‘N Out, Van Kooten crossed the finish line her back straight, not with her bike but with the Teter fans cheering in the background. Van Kooten made it through three heats to compete in the final race.Rounding the final turn, Sharp led the way in front of BKB’s Stephen Quay and Phi Delta Theta teammate Baxter Burnworth.The final women’s heat:Caitlin Van Kooten – Teter -firstCaroline Brown – Pi Beta Phi -secondLauren Half – Delta Gamma -thirdJennifer Balbach – Kappa DeltaKatie Sauter – Kappa Kappa GammaEllen Knecht – Alpha Gamma DeltaThe final men’s heat:Steve Sharp – Phi Delta Theta -firstStephen Quay – Black Key Bulls -secondBaxter Burnworth – Phi Delta Theta-thirdAndrew Morrow – Sigma ChiDavid Richardson-Rossbach – DUNick Sovinski – Phi Delta Theta
(04/09/10 5:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Little 500 riders call Miss ’N Out an event of musical chairs.When the music stops playing, who will be left riding?On March 31, Little 500 riders put their tires to the track for the second of four spring series events. While Individual Team Trials lays out the field of the fastest riders, the event also contributes to the heat line-ups for Miss ’N Out.Based on ITT times, riders are separated into heats of eight. The top 15 riders take the best spots of each heat, meaning they are placed along the front row inside the track.The rest of the riders are dispersed throughout the heats, with the fastest being placed closer to the inside of the track. After each lap, the last bike to cross the start/finish line is eliminated. This continues until the fourth-to-last rider is eliminated. The top three riders then continue to the next heat.Kristen Metherd, a senior Kappa Alpha Theta rider, finished 11th at the ITT this spring.This spot places her at the top of heat 19. The advantage for the top rider is having the inside lane, which is the shortest distance to pedal around the track. Starting in the inside lane is a slight advantage, but Metherd said her position doesn’t really matter.“Once the heat starts, you’re allowed to jockey for a position anywhere on the track, so if you started in the third slot you can easily jump right in front of the first person,” she said.A fifth-place finisher in the men’s ITT, Phi Delta Theta senior rider Baxter Burnworth will also lead his heat. Because Miss ’N Out rankings come from ITT finishes, Miss ’N Out is not so much a test of a team as a spectator event.“You’ll see some guys that have much lower seedings and they’ll advance really far in Miss ’N Out,” Burnworth said. “For the seeds, I think the only advantage is you have a little bit more of a breather in the first rounds.”With the white jersey still up for grabs, Burnworth said each team will try to advance as many riders as possible to the semi-final and final heats to earn more points.While Burnworth and Metherd are both in their ideal spots, Alpha Omicron Pi freshman rider Elizabeth Littlejohn is starting at the back of her heat. Although she is upset about her spot, the freshman has based her training this week by riding seven fast laps.“I don’t expect to get in the top three, but I hope to not be the first one out,” Littlejohn said.The worst spot for any rider is the one in the middle of the pack, Metherd said. Those who start between the front and back riders tend to get “boxed in,” Metherd said — one of the toughest positions to get out from.“You’ll see a lot of riders who will be sitting second place on the inside, and they will end up being eliminated just because they’re in a bad position,” Metherd said.While Metherd is happy with the spot her ITT time gave her in her heat, she said how she finishes depends on lap-by-lap decisions.“At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter all that much where you start because things can change within a lap,” Metherd said
(03/31/10 3:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Months of night riding, running stairs at Ballantine Hall and rolling on trainers ends with a spot in the Little 500.But not for sophomore Adam Fish, at least not last year.Fish, a Sigma Chi rider, was the team’s fifth rider. Teams are only allowed four riders on race day, and the search for the final four begins with Individual Time Trials, which take place today at 4 p.m. at Bill Armstrong Stadium.Last year, Fish put his sweat and leg power into riding with the team. But he was unable to compete. Instead, he sat in the stands while the 2009 Men’s Little 500 race went on without him.“Last year, I was pretty close to another rider, and it came down to race experience and a seniority-type thing, which was the right decision to make,” Fish said. “I wasn’t ready for the race that year. But this year, we’ve got some new guys coming in, and we’re letting everyone battle it out on the track. “We have a little process in the system for ranking guys in our program that’s all done based on your performance at the track. ITT’s are really important, especially for the guys competing for spots. It’s one of the objective things that determines who rides the race.”How Sigma Chi bases its final four is not necessarily how every cycling team decides its top riders for race day. Phi Gamma Delta has known its best cyclists since the team’s spring break training. “It kind of just showed who the top four were, who were constantly finishing up front and what not,” senior Phi Gamma Delta rider Todd Leone said. “I’m not trying to put down the other riders, but it was always the same four finishing up front.”Sophomore Black Key Bulls rider Stephen Mis was also a fifth rider last year. He found out he wasn’t going to race after spring break in 2009. Although his teammates never told him he was the fifth rider, he knew where he fell in the lineup. To Mis, ITT’s is just a spring series event.“It’s a good way to judge how fast somebody is, but at the same time, it’s only four laps and generally during the race, you’re not going to be riding by yourself for a full-out four laps,” Mis said. “It doesn’t necessarily represent race-day situations.”Instead of being frustrated by watching from the sidelines, Mis was one of the team’s student coaches. From that, he said he learned more about the top race in collegiate cycling.While Mis said he knows he will put his rubber to the cinder on April 24, sophomore Jack McMahon is still wondering whether he will be one of Wright Cycling’s race-day riders. Before this week’s qualifications, McMahon’s coach said he still had areas of his cycling to tweak.“We had a team meeting and he just told me ‘You’re fast enough, but unfortunately your exchanges just aren’t to the point that we need them to be for qualifications. So don’t let that get you down, just keep working, because you still have a chance to get in,’” McMahon said. The opportunity to still ride fuels McMahon’s training.“I still think I’m more than fast enough to make the team, and I still am willing to work hard for that fourth spot, even for the fifth spot, to make our team faster.”For Fish, the hard work needed to make the Sigma Chi team began when last year’s race ended.“I trained really hard this summer,” Fish said. “I wanted to come back and kind of make a statement and show what I was capable of. I came back in good shape, and it kind of raised the bar for the team.“I came back a little stronger than some of our good riders, and that was just from training hard for a couple months. I spent a lot of time on the bike.”From the stands as last year’s odd man out, Fish said he learned strategy he will bring with him to this year’s competition.“You got to see how the better teams are, the ones who take responsibility of the race and ride in front and chase down breakaways and protect their position and things like that,” he said. “There’s a big responsibility to being in a lead team.”
(03/31/10 12:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Little 500 is more than the largest collegiate bicycle race in America. It is more than the biggest intramural event on the IU campus. It is more than a great college weekend.Little 500 is the event that turns men and women into riders and IU students into Hoosiers.According to the IU Student Foundation’s Web site, the Little 500 is the biggest intramural event at IU. It is also the largest collegiate bike race in the United States. Every year, riders compete in four-person teams in separate races for men and women around a quarter-mile track. IUSF coordinates Little 500 every year.More than 25,000 people attend the races each year, with the proceeds used for working student scholarships at IU. More than $35,000 was given away in scholarships in 2008.Modeling the event after the motor race that takes place 56 miles away at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Howdy Wilcox, then-executive director of the Indiana University Student Foundation, founded the Little 500 race in 1951, 32 years after his father won the Indianapolis 500.Similar to the traditions of kissing the sidewalk and drinking cold milk that accompany the Indy 500, the Little 500 is full of the traditions of mounting Schwinns and crashing on Turn Three.“I mean, it’s more than just an intramural sport,” Delta Tau Delta rider Nick Lenard said. “It’s you representing your house ... and your friends, and you’re showing what you’ve done the entire year. It’s a pretty big competition. It’s more than just a race. It’s the experience.”Along with the experience, Alpha Omicron Pi rider Lauren Wells said Little 500 means becoming more involved on campus. 2010 marks the 60th running for the men’s race and the 23rd running for the women’s race. “The history is cool, and it’s obviously one of the long-standing traditions here at Indiana University,” Grey Goat Cycling rider Brian Holthouse said. “For a school to participate in something that is 60 years old with alumni that have performed before you and the traditions that surround the race ... is really cool.” Riders compete on teams of four, equipped with one student coach, an experienced coach and a mechanical team. Thirty-three greek-affiliated and independent teams qualify through trials to compete in the main race, which Holthouse said is an indescribable experience.“You work all year and you show up and it just flies by so fast,” Holthouse said. “One minute the race has started, and then you’re already on the last 20 laps and you’re trying to figure out who’s going to make a move and when. It’s really beyond words.”Riders typically train for the race about six days a week. Wells said training for Little 500 is like any other athlete training for their sport to prevent injuries.Some say the riders who compete in Little 500 are nuts, but Lenard said all athletes are crazy.“It can be pretty boring day to day,” he said. “The good athletes have to be crazy about it.”
(03/26/10 5:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On a field that already bears the head coach’s last name, a new era begins Sunday.After years on the sidelines learning from his father’s head coaching techniques, new IU coach Todd Yeagley will take the field for the first time as the leader of one of the nation’s premier soccer programs.But as Yeagley prepares for the noon matchup with Louisville, he is more focused on his team than the opponent.“We really just want to keep building,” Yeagley said. “This is obviously a time to experiment for the fall, try different combinations, but we’re treating these games from the standpoint and approach as we would a fall game. Performance is our main objective, although results are important every time we take the field. But our main objective is to make sure performance and what we’re trying to get across as a team is accomplished.”As with most firsts, Yeagley said he will feel some jitters. But he said he is too honored to be overly worried about them.“The milestone-type emotions for the first and the last and all that always comes into play at times, but when it comes game day, for me, my focus is really just on performance,” Yeagley said. “Any time you step on that field and you’re coaching this program it’s special, and I’m sure that will hit me.”IU will play two teams this spring — Louisville and Akron — that it lost to in the regular season by a combined score of 5-0. Junior midfielder Cameron Jordan said the games’ exhibition status is no reason to diminish a rivalry’s intensity.“They beat us last fall season, and that’s when the rivalry started,” Jordan said. “We beat them, and then come spring season they beat us, and then come in the regular season again and then we get our little revenge in the tournament. So it’s been a battle back and forth.”With the Zips and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish awaiting the Hoosiers in April, Jordan said his team has an uphill climb this spring.“With three big rivalry games, there’s no game to take lightly,” Jordan said.In preparation for the new season, along with commonplace offseason conditioning such as weight lifting and running sprints, the Hoosiers added yoga to their regimen.“It’s a lot harder than you would think,” Jordan said. “It’s kind of strenuous but at the same time very relaxing. It was teaching us breathing motions and to just kind of let everything go and focus on one thing. It made you do some things you don’t think you’re going to be able to do.”Relaxation will be important for the marquee match of the spring against Mexico’s Youth National Team in Bloomington on April 27.Junior midfielder Daniel Kelly is not new to playing Mexico. He has played against the team twice while at IU and three times while he was a part of the U.S. Youth National Team. He said he hopes the Hoosiers will be comfortable before that time comes.“Luckily, it’s our last game of the semester, so hopefully we’ll get the kinks out and we’ll be playing well together,” Kelly said. “Hopefully the guys aren’t nervous. You’re always going to have some butterflies but it’s just taking what the coaches give you and taking that to the field and applying it.”This weekend is the coaching staff’s first chance to see the Hoosiers apply what they have learned. “We’re not going to be the finished product come Sunday,” Yeagley said. “But certainly we want to see improvements in areas that we have really been stressing.”
(03/26/10 4:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Wing Cadet Kevin Skelton means business.As the highest-ranking cadet at IU, he walks around campus in uniform and expects a salute and a greeting from every cadet he encounters.But nine cadets know a less-strict side of Skelton the rest have not seen: his college-kid side.These nine cadets, along with Skelton, make up the men’s and women’s Air Force teams trying to qualify for this year’s Little 500.“When we’re in uniform doing Air Force business, I’m in charge, and they all know it,” Skelton said. “But at the track and during workouts, I made it very clear to them at the beginning of the semester, I was like ‘Hey, I’m your coach, I’m your friend. I’m not your commander right now, but still treat me with respect.’ Every once in a while, to be funny, they’ll throw in a ‘Sir.’”Skelton used his training and authority from the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps to fuel his creation of these Little 500 teams.Sophomore Ashley Doyle is one of the cadets Skelton recruited for the women’s AFROTC team. Doyle is a cadet third class, and as team captain, she understands the AFROTC’s importance.“We are such a close unit and family in the ROTC community that we’re really good friends, so it’s really easy to get through to one another and to teach each other what you’re doing wrong or what you need to do,” Doyle said.Doyle will attend field training this summer, which will determine what she will one day do with the Air Force. But for now, she and her teammates are hoping to represent their branch of the Armed Services in the Little 500.“We’re pretty sure we’ll qualify, but we want to have clean exchanges on the quals run,” Doyle said. “There are already nerves. Everybody’s a little jittery, really excited, not really sure what to expect. We think we’re going to do really well. We just need to make sure everybody is calmed down and not overly excited when we go out there.”Training five days per week, Skelton has no doubt his team is in top physical shape. He said he believes this so much that he had them exempt from physical training and designed his own workouts, which he said makes it easier for him to coach than any other team.“All of them have scored 90 or above on the Air Force physical fitness test, so they’re definitely in better shape than a regular cadet would be,” he said. “It is a lot easier, I think, coaching these Air Force teams than if I was just coaching a frat team or a dorm team, where they’re just regular students.“They’re not cadets that are conditioned with the ‘Yes, Sir,’ ‘No, Sir.’ If I tell them to go do a workout, they might not like it ... but they’re not going to be like ‘Oh, we don’t want to do that.’ They’re going to do it because I told them to — because I outrank them and they have respect.”Skelton is also the only member of either Air Force team to have ridden in the Little 500. Junior Julian Londono does not have race experience, but as a cadet captain and future Air Force pilot, he is excited for qualifications to show the other cadets what he and his teammates have done.“I think it feels great to represent the Air Force and all the 80 cadets that are in the Air Force ROTC right now,” Londono said. “It’s a great way to start a team that we’ve never had and hopefully be able to carry it throughout the years and have a strong team for Little 500 for years to come.”Skelton said his focus is to make AFROTC a presence on campus. Last semester, he was involved in the first Air Force group for IU Dance Marathon. Skelton said the presence of an independent organization in greek-dominated events is important.“I think the Air Force cadets, as a whole, don’t really realize how huge this event is at IU,” Skelton said. “It’s an enormous event. Whether it’s crappy weather and pouring rain or sunny out, there are 20,000-plus people there.“Every organization is represented, every greek house has a team out there and there are all these dorms and what not. And to have an Air Force cycling team, it’s a really big deal. Not just to our cadets but the rest of the University to say that we are here, we’re not just here to walk around in uniform and pop salutes at each other, we’re here involved in these community activities.”
(03/10/10 9:00pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When the Schwinns crossed the finish line of last year’s Little 500 race, Alpha Tau Omega placed eighth. Just a year later, the team no longer exists.Derek Bailey, a former ATO rider, and his rookie teammates, Sean Vallely and Alex Ray, were given three options: Don’t ride, ride under the dispersion rule with only members or previous riders of ATO, or deactivate and form a team with independent riders.The ATO’s decided to do the latter. They joined Justin Haviar and Eliot Englert to form their new team.“Our team name is Emanon, which is ‘no name’ backwards, which we thought was appropriate since we can’t ride under ATO,” Vallely said. “I just don’t think it’s fair that if you’re a part of the greek system you have to have a moral code, whereas if independent teams got in a bar fight, they would still be allowed to ride.”The last time ATO did not race was in 2007. Before that, the team was suspended from 1992-94 for alcohol violations.
(03/10/10 3:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Years ago, with a board game in front of him and a baseball card in hand, H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger’s sports journalism career began.He would play Strat-O-Matic, and when he finished, he grabbed a piece of paper and recapped his play-by-play experience, letting his words flow like the swing of a major league bat. He wrote as if he had credentials at the New York Times.Before long, he became a No. 1 bestseller for the same newspaper with his book about football-crazy Odessa, Texas. Tim Franklin, director of the National Sports Journalism Center, worked with Bissinger at the Chicago Tribune in the early 1990s, and they have remained friends since. Their friendship is just one reason Franklin asked Bissinger to present a seminar at 7 p.m. today at IUPUI’s Campus Center.“He is, without question, one of the best journalists — not just sports journalists — of his generation,” Franklin said. “In addition to that, he’s also a thought-provoking speaker. He’s not somebody who’s shy about expressing his opinions about sports, about the state of journalism, about the state of sports journalism.”Three sports-based books, countless articles and a Pulitzer Prize for investigation later, Bissinger does not consider himself a sports journalist. Even his No. 1 book, despite ballooning into one of the biggest sports movies and television shows of this decade, doesn’t fall into that category, Bissinger said. “‘Friday Night Lights,’ I really don’t consider a sports book, but much more a book about the kind of sociology of sports,” he said. Junior Andrew Gaboury is focusing on sports journalism, but he agrees that listening to Bissinger is listening to more than a sports writer.“It’s a pretty good opportunity, not just if you’re interested in sports, because obviously he can write a good sports book, but he can just tell a good story in general,” Gaboury said. “If you want to be a journalist, you have to tell a good story.”Whether the stadium lights are on in West Texas or Akron, Ohio, Bissinger has evolved into one of the best narrative journalists, but he’s struggled to get there.“You’re telling a story, you want to tell something with a beginning, a middle and an end, whether it’s 20 inches or whether it’s 20,000 words,” he said. “You have to be willing to rewrite and you have to really be willing to cut.”To Bissinger, most books are under-edited and overwritten by writers who hate to outline. Bissinger himself was thrown into the fire when it came to outlining.He said when he began “Friday Night Lights,” he wrote the first 30,000 words without an outline. He was soon humbled. “Of those 30,000 words, 25,000 words weren’t very good. My editor said, ‘No offense, but this stinks.’ I had to learn the hard way, but that’s what you have to do in order to succeed,” he said.Sports Illustrated called “Friday Night Lights” one of the five best sports books in history, and success is not lacking in Bissinger’s biography. He began his career in the Norfolk dugout and built his way up to the Vanity Fair press box, covering the MLB, NBA and high school sports along the way.From a baseball card to a baseball series, Bissinger has dived into the sports world. And while an IU basketball story isn’t in his future plans, he said he will always respect the tradition the coach known as The General began.“I’ve met Bobby Knight,” Bissinger said. “I actually think for all his excesses, he really did care about kids and his players getting an education. I know Indiana basketball is not the same as it has been for quite some time, but I miss it.”
(03/03/10 6:49am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Wing It riders Ali Bickel and Maria Srour pedal through Spain after class.While some Little 500 riders spend their winter days riding stationary bikes at the Ora L. Wildermuth Center, the Wing It team works in front of what they refer to as an “anti-boredom machine.”A training room with a rider’s best winter dream sits waiting to be hooked and wired into the Wing It bicycles. The dream is a training program by Tacx, which helps Wing It riders trek around the world without leaving their bicycles in Bloomington.“When you’re stuck with weather like this, it kind of takes the edge off,” Wing It coach Tom Schwoegler said.Srour and Bickel pedal as their bicycles are hooked up to a computer, using everything from the rear wheel’s speed to the course’s elevation data to provide an accurate ride for the Little 500 competitors.“A guy by the name of Phil Stone got the cool job of videotaping all these courses,” Schwoegler said. “He goes out with a real nice high-def camera and gets to drive these great rides, and he takes elevation data every 100 meters, so the stuff is really, really accurate.”Twenty-eight different rides from around the world include courses from city roads to Tour de France stages. Each ride lasts between 50 to 70 miles.“Six years ago, I was at the Interbike show in Las Vegas, and this kid asks ‘Do you mind if I ride this?’” Schwoegler said. “I said ‘Go ahead. Jump on it.’”The teenager rode the Mt. Ventoux course, one of the most grueling stages of the Tour de France. A few minutes later, the teenager stopped pedaling.“The kid said, ‘This is scary. I was on Ventoux two weeks ago, and my legs are telling me that I’m back on Ventoux,’” Schwoelger said.When a course has an incline, the computer signals the trainer to increase tension in the rear wheel, creating the feeling of resistance. If Wing It’s coach ever feels like his riders need a new ride other than one of the 28 offered, Schwoegler can use Google Maps to design his own ride for his team through the Tacx software.“The world really is your training course,” Schwoegler said.The downside of the training center, Bickel said, is that ultimately, the team would rather be training outdoors. However, it provides an alternative to the HPER, where bikes might not always be available.Srour agreed that riding in the open air is better.“Sometimes the software doesn’t work, and you’re still on a trainer,” she said. “It is sort of an anti-boredom thing. It breaks it up because getting on a trainer is really boring because it’s the same thing ... I don’t think I’m any more efficient than someone riding on a spin bike in the HPER, but it gives me more motivation to do my rides.”Schwoegler is not yet sure if the equipment is helping his team’s performance or endurance. But for him, the true result that matters is the one on race day.“I think any person who is on their bike, they’re going to see some kind of improvement,” Schwoegler said. “If you can improve that experience, you’re going to want to continue. For me, even if this gives them a little edge so they’re not as bored ... then we’re that much farther ahead.”
(03/02/10 4:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Today a child in Honduras woke up and had a glass of water. Today a mother in Honduras cooked for her children.Both of these Hondurans are killing themselves, but they have no other options.Contaminated water and the improper ventilation in homes that leads to respiratory illnesses are just a few aspects that the Global Brigades at IU will examine thanks to sophomore Gordon Lang.Inspired by his brother’s involvement with the University of Texas’ Global Brigades, Lang stepped foot on IU’s campus in the fall of 2008 wanting to offer his school an opportunity to be a part of an international volunteer group.His offer became the birth of the Global Brigades at IU, one of 110 university chapters worldwide.“This organization gives you the opportunity to apply your knowledge and make a positive impact in the world,” Lang said.From there, Lang contacted then-freshman Ryan Kelleher for help. Kelleher became the head of the Global Brigades overseas coordination and Medical Brigades president. Although Kelleher is planning to go to medical school, no specific major is required be a part of any brigade.“That’s the whole idea behind the organization, that we want to expose students to the developing world,” Lang said. “At IU, you’re kind of in a bubble ... and you don’t see much outside of it. This gives you the opportunity to step outside the comfort zone a little bit and see what it’s like in the real world.”The chapter is a part of Global Brigades Inc., a non-profit organization comprised of 12 subsidiaries. IU has four of these subsidiaries — public health, water, medical and business.Compared to other student activities, the Global Brigades is a low-commitment organization. The group only ask for about a week-long brigade to Honduras or Panama.Public health brigades President junior Kathleen Schmitt said she thinks her spring break will have a major impact on her life.“I read about Honduras all the time and you see it on TV,” Schmitt said. “But, you can change the channel or ... look the other way. I think first hand, seeing it up close, that’s going to be the hardest part for me.”Schmitt said her brigade plans to educate the children they meet on public health needs such as how to properly brush their teeth and wash their hands, information they have never been given since they do not have money to see doctors and dentists.About eight doctors, many of whom are connected to someone in the Global Brigades at IU and the Global Medical Brigades, will provide about 1,500 Honduran patients each with a three-month supply of medication.Since the medical brigade has taken a longer time to organize, fundraise and recruit, its trip will not be until May. However, Schmitt said Global Brigades Inc. is in Honduras and Panama working with people year-round.“Global Brigades really wants us to build on relationships so they know they can trust us so we don’t just stay there one day and then pick up and leave,” Schmitt said.Regardless, Lang, Schmitt and Kellher are ready to make a positive impact during their spring break.“Global Brigades takes a look at the problems and it fixes them,” Kellher said. “So you treat those underlying issues. You don’t just put a band-aid on the problem, so in the long run you have solutions.”
(02/09/10 7:16pm)
Click here to watch members of the IU 2010 soccer class showing off their skills.
(02/09/10 4:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU soccer has a new coach and a new class but the same game plan: Win championships.Joining the ranks of over 400 members of the IU men’s soccer family is the 2010 class: Kerel Bradford, Ryan Bristol, Jacob Bushue, Nikita Kotlov, Dylan Lax, Matt McKain, Harrison Petts, Taylor Reeves and Blake Wise.“This is a very talented group that I feel can make a positive impact in the program,” IU coach Todd Yeagley said. “The 2010 class will certainly give us a big boost moving forward.”IU senior Lee Hagedorn graduated from Columbus North four years ago. Two North players, Lax and McKain, are following in Hagedorn’s footsteps. The midfielder said he was able to talk with Lax about becoming a Hoosier.“I told him that I knew with his dedication and the way he plays that this would be a good fit for him,” Hagedorn said.But Hagedorn’s advice for the incoming class was more about knowing their place on the team.“They were the top players on their team and now ... there’s people that are All-Americans that have been here for three or four years that they’re going to have to compete against,” Hagedorn said. “You have to realize you have to come to play every day and the coaches will notice it. It will take a little time to earn your spot, but if you give dedication and hard work, you’ll get your chance to play.”Four members of the class are from the Hoosier state.“Indiana has always been able to produce some top players,” Yeagley said. “Each year we’re seeing more and more top prospects developing in our own state, which is a great sign. We’re proud to have our own come in and play large roles.”Bushue said he grew up around the hype of the cream and crimson seeing his brother’s passion for the Hoosiers.“When I was about eight or nine, Indiana soccer was always the thing that he was always talking about, how they were so good,” Bushue said. “That was back when they were winning national championships all the time.”But his choice to come to IU was mainly based on his new coach.“I almost went to Wisconsin where he was the head coach before, because he was recruiting me there pretty hard,” Bushue said. “When he came here I was so excited. I can already tell right now that great things are going to happen with him.”Like those who have worn the seven-star logo before him, Bushue understands his responsibility as an IU soccer player.“Sometime in these four years I came here to win a national championship,” Bushue said. “So one or two would be fantastic.”
(01/28/10 5:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Standing just beyond midfield on his second day of practice, Todd Yeagley is surrounded by his past, present and future.Sitting a few yards away, the legendary Hoosier coach Jerry Yeagley looks on. His time has ended. Now, it’s his son’s turn.“He’s better than I was,” Jerry said. “It’s nice that he likes to share his thinking or ask my opinion, but I will not be there on the field with him.”For more than 30 years, Jerry led the IU soccer program. After a six-year hiatus, the Yeagley name is again running one of the nation’s premier soccer programs, replacing Mike Freitag. In December, Todd was announced as the third coach of IU men’s soccer.Although Todd has a sister, he grew up with a group of college students he called his brothers. Like older brothers, the team would play tricks on him.“They’d tape him to chairs in elevators and send him down to the lobby,” Jerry said. “They were rough on him, but he loved it.”Todd agreed he was the typical younger brother looking for attention and seeing how far he could push the envelope before his brothers set him back in his place.This brotherhood kept Todd enthralled with the game throughout his childhood.“If you’re in the environment that I was in, it’s hard not to like soccer,” Todd said.During his time at Bloomington High School South, Todd helped build the club team into a varsity sport his senior year. A torn ACL kept him from taking the field his final year.“The joke among my friends is that I never got a varsity letter,” Todd said.*******There was a time in high school when Jerry noticed his son was ready to take his game to the next level.“I wouldn’t have wanted him to come if he were just an average player because then it would have been ‘Well, he’s just playing because his dad’s the coach’,” Jerry said. “The fact that he was an All-American for four years, nobody ever questioned if he should be on the team.”Todd was one of 24 NSCAA All-Americans who combined to achieve an NCAA-leading 17 College Cup appearances and seven national championships. He never wanted to be a part of another team.“Why would you want to go anywhere else if you could go here?” Todd said. “It’s just all that I knew.”Earning three Big Ten titles and a 75-9-5 record with IU, Todd gave his father many memories. None stuck out more than his son’s first game as a Hoosier.“When I looked out there and they announced him, he was lined up with the team,” Jerry said with pride. “They were playing the national anthem – and there was my son in an IU uniform.”Entering the game with a 23-2 record, the Hoosiers deserved their spot on the sidelines of the 1994 title game against Virginia. They believed victory was theirs.But after the final second ticked off the clock, the Hoosiers saw the wrong team kissing the trophy.Sixteen years later, Todd still has not watched the loss.He still feels empty.“You get there and you get a taste of it,” Todd recounted. “When you’re a senior, you know it’s over. There’s no chance to come back.”*******65 years ago on a playground in a small Pennsylvania town, a toddler began to learn soccer. That toddler – Jerry– was determined to spend his life around the sport.“My family thought I should follow my uncle George to dentistry or my uncle Harry to medicine,” Jerry said about his college options. “They were disappointed when I said I wanted to … be a coach.”After winning a high school state championship in Pennsylvania, Jerry followed his own path to Bloomington. While at IU, he won an NCAA championship as a player and coach, becoming the only person to claim all three titles. He retired in 2003 as the winningest coach in NCAA soccer history. For 10 years, Jerry and his wife did everything. They washed club uniforms. They begged for and borrowed equipment. Jerry became more than a supervisor to the group of players that, to the University, was only a club. To him, the club was a future team and family.At the time, the Athletics Director, the Dean of Students and the Intramural Director thought differently.“The AD didn’t even know that I was a faculty member and he told me when I finished my studies it would be best for me to move on,” Jerry said.Instead, Jerry took his building blocks and shaped his underdog club into a dynasty. With each new block, Todd stood by his father’s side, soaking in the soccer world.*******The 2010 IU men’s soccer team ran off the practice field to take a break. A line formed on the sideline. Each member filed past a smiling Jerry, shaking “The Godfather’s” hand.However, some in the soccer community felt that hand was too involved in his son’s hire.“I didn’t have one word with our athletic director who made the final decision from the time Michael was relieved of his duties until the hire was made,” Jerry said.The IU Athletics Department examined records of past players’ feelings and conducted interviews with current players about Todd before hiring him after a disappointing fall under Freitag. “With his dad and connections with professional teams and his personality, people really appreciate all he brings to Indiana,” freshman defender Matt Wiet said about his new coach. “Some people may be upset about it, but you can’t please everybody.”His connection to the Yeagley family goes back to when Todd recruited him in 2008.Wiet said the way Todd cares about his players, on and off the field, is what makes him a great return for IU soccer.“You want to go and run through the streets screaming ‘Hallelujiah,” Matt said. “You want to go and win a national championship for him.”The Yeagley name has a glory that resides in the 41 years Jerry spent with the program. The return to glory now rests with Todd.“There are a handful of teams that are at the top all the time,” Jerry said. “That’s where we should be – in that small handful of elite teams that are constantly in the hunt for the gold ring, and we’ve slipped from that.”Todd spent the past month talking to his players about his approach to IU soccer. At practice, he donned the correct shades of red and white with a logo that is almost impatiently waiting for another star to be added.For the IU soccer program, the national title is not dreamed about, it’s expected. “My main focus is everyday excellence,” Todd said. “I’m not talking about outcome goals. I’m not saying championship. It’s a given. That’s why you come here.”