Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s Joe Krahulik edged out his brother and teammate Andy Krahulik to capture the men’s title while Tabitha Sherwood once again dominated the field to easily come away with the women’s crown.
Both Joe Krahulik and Sherwood were ITT winners as well, cementing each of them as the top individual riders in their respective fields.
Below are the other finalists, semifinalists and quarterfinalists, as well as video of the last lap of each final.
The top rider in last year’s race is gone, meaning ITTs will be exciting from the very fact that there will be a new champion crowned.
Liz Lieberman stole the show in all regards last year for Kappa Alpha Theta, winning ITTs, MNO and then, of course, the race itself.
She’s graduated. Who will rise to the top this year?
The easy answer would be to say Phoenix’s Tabitha Sherwood, who has finished second in ITTs the previous two years. Here’s a look at all the top returning riders in the women’s field.
Last year, in a heads up sprint, the No. 12 rider in ITTs, Nick Torrance, beat out all the other top sprinters in the field to win the Little 500.
So perhaps ITTs isn’t the greatest indicator of who will be the fastest come lap 199. After all, there’s lots of other factors at play at that point in the race, such as how much work the rider has had to do up to that point, and how fresh their legs are at that moment.
But ITTs is still a fun spring series event just to see who can lay claim to being the fastest four lap rider around the track.
Here’s a preview of who the top returners are from last year who will be vying for the crown Wednesday.
BLOOMINGTON — It’s rare to see a men’s team go under 2:20 in Quals, or a women’s team go under 2:41.
Saturday, four men’s teams and four women’s teams beat those respective marks.
Back-to-back defending champions Kappa Alpha Theta put up the third fastest time in women’s qualifications history (2:36.634) to take the pole, and on the men’s side, Cutters recorded its fastest Little 500 qualifications time (2:18.779) in its long history to secure the men’s pole.
MEN
1 Cutters 2:18.779
2 Delta Tau Delta 2:19.739
3 Black Key Bulls 2:19.958
4 Wright 2:19.982
5 Phi Delta Theta 2:21.540
6 Gray Goat 2:22.472
7 Pi Kappa Alpha 2:22.598
8 Sigma Alpha Epsilon 2:22.946
9 CSF 2:24.601
10 Beta Theta Pi 2:25.455
11 3PH 2:25.724
12 Sigma Chi 2:25.905
13 Alpha Sigma Phi 2:27.109
14 Lambda Chi Alpha 2:27.198 (second attempt)
15 Acacia 2:27.550
16 Alpha Epsilon Pi 2:28.142
17 Sigma Alpha Mu 2:28.152
18 Delta Chi 2:28.786
19 Pi Kappa Phi 2:28.985 (third attempt)
20 Phi Kappa Sigma 2:29.066 (second attempt)
21 Sigma Nu 2:29.100
22 Sigma Phi Epsilon 2:29.595 (third attempt)
23 Forest 2:29.816
24 Young Pioneers 2:30.057
25 Pi Lambda Phi 2:30.154
26 Phi Gamma Delta 2:30.180
27 Young Life 2:30.249
28 Phi Sigma Kappa 2:30.704
29 Beta Sigma Psi 2:31.416 (third attempt)
30 Theta Chi 2:31.891 (second attempt)
31 Tau Kappa Epsilon 2:34.857 (third attempt)
32 Zeta Beta Tau 2:35.504 (second attempt)
33 Delta Sigma Pi 2:36.094
DID NOT QUALIFY
34 Cru 2:36.154
35 Sigma Pi 2:36.182
36 Election Cycle 2:37.621
37 Phi Kappa Tau 2:37.855 (third attempt)
38 Air Force 2:39.340 (third attempt)
39 Delta Upsilon 2:39.349
40 Delta Sigma Phi 2:47.920
Kappa Sigma – three faults
WOMEN
1 Kappa Alpha Theta 2:36.634
2 Phoenix 2:40.053
3 Delta Gamma 2:40.455
4 Alpha Omicron Pi 2:40.687
5 Teter 2:41.630
6 Alpha Chi Omega 2:42.342
7 Ski 2:42.559
8 Kappa Kappa Gamma 2:43.734
9 CSF 2:44.654
10 Alpha Gamma Delta 2:44.819
11 Alpha Sigma Alpha 2:45.939 (third attempt)
12 Cru 2:46.051
13 Kappa Delta 2:46.273
14 Melanzana 2:46.901
15 Alpha Delta Pi 2:48.662
16 Alpha Xi Delta 2:49.705
17 Delta Sigma Pi 2:51.526 (second attempt)
18 Theta Phi Alpha 2:52.547
19 Gamma Phi Beta 2:54.711
20 Chi Omega 2:55.177
21 Independent Council 2:56.251
22 RideOn 2:56.323 (second attempt)
23 Wing It 2:58.497
24 Delta Zeta 2:58.657
25 Phi Mu 3:00.656 (third attempt)
26 Alpha Phi 3:00.739 (second attempt)
27 Delta Phi Epsilon 3:02.920 (second attempt)
28 IU Nursing 3:03.264 (third attempt)
29 Zeta Tau Alpha 3:04.473
30 Delta Delta Delta 3:12.148
31 Alpha Epsilon Phi 3:13.556 (second attempt)
32 Sigma Delta Tau 3:13.573
The only comforting thing about last night’s IU men’s basketball loss is that we get a full day of Little 500 Qualifications today.
There are 42 men’s teams attempting to qualify, and 33 women’s teams. Of course, there are 33 spots in the field.
On the men’s side, 31 teams return at least one experienced race rider, and 11 teams have at least three returning riders. On the women’s side, 29 teams return at least one experienced rider, and nine have three or more returning riders.
Keep refreshing this page for live updates and standings as the day moves along.
With Quals just 30 days away, and the women’s Little 500 50 days away, today seemed like an appropriate time to finally post this year’s teams.
We now have on our website every team and rider registered to compete in this year’s Little 500. You can find it under the tab “2016 Little 500 rosters.”
This year, there are 42 men’s teams and 34 women’s teams registered.
Without a doubt, the 2015 men’s Little 500 has to be one of the best races in Little 500 history.
It had clean racing. There were no devastating crashes that wiped out the field. In fact, there was only one meaningful crash, and one of the teams involved, Sigma Phi Epsilon, went on to win. A fall didn’t impact who won the race.
It had showmanship. Who can forget Phi Delta Theta’s Rob Lee waving to the crowd at the beginning of the race?
It had a strong attack (Delta Tau Delta). It had an even better bridge (Beta Theta Pi, Cutters, Sig Ep, Black Key Bulls).
It had heart-pounding drama. It had the finish we all crave. Six teams finished within .38 seconds of each other, and Sig Ep narrowly beat out BKB by .024 seconds. That’s closer than the closest Indianapolis 500 finish ever recorded (.043 seconds).
It had sportsmanship from all parties after the race, acknowledging what an amazing race had just occurred.
What more could you ask for in the Little 500?
It was only the fourth men’s Little 500 I have seen, so I’m asking those of you who have much more knowledge than me, was last year’s race the best race of all time?
Let me know what you think has been the best Little 500 race of all time in the comments below.
1 Sigma Phi Epsilon 2 Black Key Bulls (0.024 seconds behind winner) 3 Beta Theta Pi (0.344)
4 Sigma Alpha Epsilon (0.355) 5 Forest (0.356) 6 Delta Tau Delta (0.380)
7 Cutters (7.814) 8 3PH Cycling (9.758) 9 Phi Kappa Sigma (28.761)
10 Phi Delta Theta (38.255) 11 Phi Gamma Delta (39.642) 12 Gray Goat
13 Delta Chi 14 Wright 15 Sigma Nu
16 Northern Indiana Cycling 17 Pi Kappa Phi 18 Evans Scholars
19 Lambda Chi Alpha 20 CSF 21 Theta Chi
22 Pi Kappa Alpha 23 Sigma Alpha Mu 24 Delta Sigma Pi
25 Alpha Epsilon Pi 26 Kappa Sigma 27 Young Life
28 Phi Sigma Kappa 29 Delta Upsilon 30 Sigma Pi
31 Collins 32 Alpha Tau Omega 33 Beta Sigma Psi
Before the reporters stormed in, before the champions walked onto the stage in front of all their fans, before they were mobbed by house brothers and friends, the four Sigma Phi Epsilon riders shared a moment all to themselves after winning the 2015 Little 500.
“God,” one rider said, “we fucking won! We fucking won!”
There were hugs to be had, there were TV interviews to be conducted, there were trophies to be hoisted, victory laps to be run. But never was there a more perfect two sentences to capture the emotion and thrill of the 2015 men’s race.
33to1 