We’re keeping a running commentary on Quals throughout the day here. Check back in for updates. The live running order is constantly updated on our page “2015 Running Order.”

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With Qualifications coming Saturday, we thought we’d look into how each team attempting to qualify for the 2015 Little 500 has done in the last four years in Qualifications.

After each team’s name is the spot they qualified for in 2014, 2013, 2012 and 2011, in that order. Teams are listed alphabetically.

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When looking back on last year’s Little 500 men’s race, the majority of the field was surprisingly young, outside of BKB’s veteran-led lineup. This year, all those young riders are back with experience.

It makes for a more of a veteran feel to this year’s race, with four teams returning four riders with race experience, and five additional teams returning three riders with race experience. Should all of those teams qualify (and our guess is they will), that means 27 percent of the starting grid on race day will be made up of teams with at least three riders with returning race experience.

Here’s a look at the men’s teams with the most returning riders and the most race experience.

Forest
With all four riders back from last year’s race team, Forest brings an impressive nine years of combined race experience into this year’s Little 500 season. Three of its riders all have at least two years of race experience entering the upcoming race. Seniors Robert Henderson and Austin Portolese both have three years of race experience, joining six other riders in this year’s field who can say the same thing. Kyle Swain has two years of Little 500 race experience, and Richard Dixon has one for this team made up entirely of seniors.

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With Quals coming up this Saturday, we decided to take a look at which teams return the most Little 500 experience, and which teams return a majority of their riders from last year.

While race experience isn’t everything, it certainly helps. And being familiar with your teammates certainly helps on Qualifications day, when the most important thing is your ability to exchange cleanly. Teams who have worked on exchanges together for years tend to have an advantage there.

So, without further ado, here’s a look at the most experienced Little 500 teams for 2015.

Melanzana
This independent team has five riders on its roster who have race experience, making it by far the most experienced team in the field. The five, consisting of Julie Daugherty, Fallon Lilly, Rose Mullaney, Elizabeth Murzyn and Katie Reynolds boast a combined eight years of Little 500 race experience coming into this season. Mullaney is one of the most experienced riders in the field, with three years of race experience. She’s one of just three racers in the women’s field with three years experience. Reynolds, also a senior, has two, while the other three each have one year of race experience.

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BY CHARLES SCUDDER | @cscudder

Paul Smith will be wearing a Delta Tau Delta jersey this Saturday.

He finished third in ITTs the last two years and watched from the pit as the team won in 2012 and sprinted the final 20 laps to help push Delts to a second-place finish in 2013.

But he hasn’t always competed for the greek powerhouse. His freshman year, he rode for Wright Cycling. Although he lived in Teter, he’d gone on a few group rides with the Wright team and trained with them leading up to the race.

“I wasn’t a very good rider when I joined Wright,” Smith said. “I had a lot to learn.”

He later joined Delts, where he statistically has a better chance of winning based on IUSF’s historical records.

Greek teams have won 68 percent of men’s races and 54 percent of women’s races. More than three-quarters of top-three finishers in the men’s race have worn greek letters.

It’s a rivalry older than “Breaking Away.” It’s easy to break the race down to greeks versus everyone else. It’s easy to vilify those damn Cutters or those damn frat stars from the stands. It’s easy to cheer for someone like you — whether that team is greek or independent.

So who has an upper hand? Greeks, who have been historically dominant in the competition with strong support and large budgets, or GDIs, who can freely recruit and earn support as the scrappy underdog?

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Following Sunday evening’s Team Pursuit finals, 33to1 caught up with Teter’s Emma Caughlin, Mackenzie Lloyd and Ashton DeHahn and Black Key Bulls’s Jacob Miller, Tyler Hart, Steven Gomez and Spencer Brauchla to get their reaction on their respective Team Pursuit victories.

Teter won its fifth straight Team Pursuit title with a time of 8:16.89, defeating then-Spring Series leader Alpha Chi Omega by more than 12 seconds in the final. The two tied in the Spring Series standings, however Teter’s win on Sunday gave them the edge in the tiebreaker. They will wear the white jersey on race day for the second straight year.

With today’s Team Pursuit marking the final event of the Spring Series, check 33to1 throughout the day for live updates. Action at Bill Armstrong Stadium begins at 1 p.m., continuing through 9 p.m.

The leaders for both the men’s and women’s competitions are posted below, with full results following that. (asterisk indicates team qualified for final).

Men’s final

1. Black Key Bulls: 9:16.31

2. Phi Gamma Delta: 9:25.31

Women’s final:

1. Teter: 8:16.89

2. Alpha Chi Omega: 8:29.42

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With rain and thunderstorms affecting the Bloomington area Wednesday afternoon, IUSF has postponed today’s Individual Time Trials and has rescheduled all three Spring Series events.

Little 500 race director Jordan Bailey confirmed to 33to1 that the first Spring Series event was postponed just 20 minutes before the first heat was set to take the track at 3:30 p.m., after lightning had been reported in the area and the weather not supposed to improve throughout the evening.

“Mother nature is just not cooperating with Little 500,” Bailey said in a statement provided to 33to1.

ITTs have been rescheduled to Saturday, April 5, from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., while Saturday’s scheduled Miss N Out has been moved to April 12, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Team Pursuit will now occur the day after Miss N Out, on Sunday, April 13, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Last year’s returners from the top 10: Aryn Doll (3) – Chi Omega, Emma Caughlin (6) – Teter, Kelsey Tharnstrom (8) – Alpha Chi Omega, Ashton DeHahn (10) – Teter

Last year’s returners from the top 20: Tabitha Sherwood (15) – Collins, Kaitlyn Glennon (17) – Alpha Sigma Alpha

Others to keep an eye on: Kate McDougal – Kappa Alpha Theta, Jenny Goodwin – Kappa Kappa Gamma, Jackie Kober – Phi Mu, Bonnie Mailey – Cru, Anna DeBoer – Cru, Lyndi Hollis – Cru

Key heats:

5:20 p.m. – Doll, Caughlin, Tharnstrom, Sherwood

5:10 p.m. – DeHahn, Glennon, McDougal, Goodwin

5:00 p.m. – Mailey, Kober, Hollis, Corinne Reynolds

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Last year’s returners from the top 10: Paul Smith (3) – Delta Tau Delta, Rob Lee (4) – Phi Delta Theta

Last year’s returners from the top 20: Jimmy Rosati (12) – Black Key Bulls, Jacob Miller (13) – Black Key Bulls, Charlie McClary (14) – Phi Gamma Delta, Brian Arfmann (17) – Sigma Chi, Wes Ring (20) – Phi Delta Theta

Others to keep an eye on: Luke Momper – Delta Tau Delta, Brian Depasse – Cutters, Toby Kemp – Delta Sigma Pi, Thomas Wimmer – Sigma Phi Epsilon, Nick Torrance – Sigma Phi Epsilon

Key heats:

5:25 p.m. – Smith, Lee, Miller, McClary

5:15 p.m. – Rosati, Arfmann, Ring, Momper

5:05 p.m. – Kemp, Wimmer, Depasse, Devin O’Leary

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