Men's Little 500

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Three riders remain in the April 13 Team Pursuit as the fourth coaches his teammates to the finish line. In the event, teams situated at opposite corners of the track raced against each other and the clock in a process of elimination. Phi Delta Theta won the pursu . to by

Howell.

A supporter of Sigma Phi Epsilon gives a rider a confident pat on the shoulder for luck before the start of the Men's 500 race at 2 p.m. Sigma Phi Epsilon finished in the top ten.

A Phi Delta Theta rider struggles through a pack of riders around turn one in search of the lead during the last 25 laps. Seven teams finished the race on the lead lap, with only 8 seconds separating first and seventh

place. Photo by Mott Stone.

Matt Stone

Matt Stone Despite their first place finish in the Independent Division, team members of Wright Dodds pause in a disappointed silence following the end of the race. Dodds finished with six other teams on the lead lap.

Phi Dclt. Lead the Pack

by Kathy Revtyak Phi Delta Theta ri-. i-s triumph in close men's race

mid the cheers echoing from the crowded stands of Bill Armstrong Stadium on the sunny afternoon of April 20, sophomore Chris Doll, a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity, sat solemnly in an isolated, roped-off area of the bleachers. With his arms crossed and legs extended, Doll watched the brothers from his house, three veterans and one rookie rider, warm up on the track. The rest of his fraternity brothers planned to make an entrance to this 46th running of the Men's Little 500 a few minutes before the 2 p.m. start of the race en masse. Nodding to the Sigma Chi team on his left, the polesitters, and the Phi Kappa Psi team on his right, seeded third, Doll confidently remarked, "We're the team to beat. We're the toughest team out there, and we are going to go after the win from the beginning," he said. "Just you wait and see..." he added. Phi Delta Theta could boast that their powerhouses, seniors Joel McKay and Dan Possley, who had received first and second places respectively in the Individual Time Trials, would turn their second seed into a victory. Yet, the field of top teams was deep and most riders conceded that seed positions meant little in the face of such competitive teams. Sophomore Jeff Hurst, a rookie rider from Sigma Chi, admitted the pole position was no indicator of the race's outcome. "Having the pole is not rally a factor anymore. This continued

race will be tight no matter where we start," he said. "But Sigma Chi is definitely ready for a victory. We're focused and we're really ready for a good, clean race." Senior Ty Tennyson, IU Student Foundation Steering Committee member, agreed. "This is going to be a good, close race. We've got a lot of teams that are very high caliber. Usually it's like that, but this year, we've got teams that have two or even three really good riders," he said. President Myles Brand called for the start of the race with the command, "Gentlemen, mount your Roadmasters," and with a wave of the checkered flag, the 33 teams were off. By lap four the riders were already under the yellow flag, but the minor wreck was essentially the only one of the race. "The most accidents are usually within the first 20 laps," said Kristin Hori, senior and member of the IUSF Steering Committee. "After they break out of a single pack after the first 20, they start spacing out. Then we have a pretty strong race going," she said. After the first 40 laps, the top contenders of the race were clear. The Phi Delts, along with Sigma Chi, Phi Kappa Psi, Cutters, Wright Dodds, Sigma Nu and Phi Gamma Delta would not only be the top seven teams exchanging the lead throughout the race, but would also finish on the lead lap. Within the following 160 laps, each team worked on solidifying its own strategy in order to be the first team across the finish line. Sigma Nu alumnus Vince Anzalone returned to help coach their team. "We have expected to finish in the top three from the start," he said. "We've got a strong position now, and our plan is to get our best rider on the bike for the last 15 and then go for it from there."

Members of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity raise senior Dan Possley, sprinter of the winning team, on their shoulders in celebration. Possley received second in the Individual Time Trials and helped the team to victory. "This has got to be the best day of my life," said senior Joel McKay, member of the winning Phi Delta Theta team, as he is congratulated by his grandfather and mother. McKay also won the Individual Time Trials.

Matt Stone Coach Ryan Murphy of the FIJI team admitted that their strategy was not so detailed, but they still wanted the win badly. "We just have a really strong position now, and we plan to keep it. We're going to go after it with all we've got." Yet all told, the Phi Delta Theta strategy proved to be the most fruitful. With the speed of senior Dan Possley and the other three team riders, each rode two of the final eight laps as fast as they could. At lap 198 senior Joel McKay, the team's—and possibly the track's—fastest rider, took the bike. McKay was able to sprint across the finish line in first place, beating the other six contenders on the lead lap to capture the coveted championship trophy. "We planned that last strategy over a year ago," he said, following the race. "We took advantage of the speed of all of our riders to pull off the win." "Winning is all about working together as a team. We would

Matt McClain not have won this race without the effort of all four of us guys," McKay said. "This has got to be the best day of my life," he said, smiling and raising his arms in the air. Mike Kreuger, the junior rookie rider on the team, said, "A lot of people think this is an individual race for the last lap, but we did it as a team. We all did two laps at the end as fast as we could. We shocked the hell out of everybody, and we won. We won as a team. The only hero today is Phi Delta Theta." As the team converged on the infield for the presentation of the trophy, Phi Delts swarmed their victorious teammates. As Doll rushed to congratulate the four, he said, "Aren't they just fantastic? They really did work their asses off for the win." Then recalling his prediction from before the start of the race, he said with a knowing nod of his head, "I told you so." L