Rookie team fights injuries, adversity

Sophomore Rachel Clark of Single Speed Sprinters stood on the cinder track sobbing as the Women's 14th Little 500 drew to a close. In the next pit, tears brimmed in the eyes of Kappa Alpha Theta riders after the race ended.\nThe women from the two teams cried for different reasons. The Thetas led for most of the race, but were overtaken by eventual champion Roadrunners on the final lap. Clark and her teammate fought adversity for 21st place in their first women's Little 500. \nWhile the Thetas and most other teams relied on four riders for the race, the Sprinters could only count on two riders -- Clark and freshman Annika Hosni -- for the entire 100 laps. Injuries kept two of their teammates from racing. Freshman Adriana Guerrero sprained and tore cartilage in her right wrist, and freshman Monica Zycinski broke her collarbone in two places.\n"This is an exercise in perseverance," Clark said of the Little 500. "We learned how to work together and make do with what you have when two teammates go down. In my personal opinion, our team has the biggest heart out here. There's not a lot of people that would ride with two riders."\nThe Sprinters had no choice. Without Guerrero, the three riders had qualified less than a second slower than the 2000 champion Thetas for ninth place. With two riders, the Sprinters could only hope to avoid further injury and extreme fatigue to finish in the top 10. A major wreck on Lap 6 dampened the four rookies' high hopes. \nThe race's major wreck involved six teams in Turn 1. Alpha Phi junior Jennifer Schaffer broke her pelvis and wrist in the wreck, and Hosni was taken down when the rider in front of her crashed. Hosni returned to the pit with cinder covering her right leg and her right elbow covered in blood. After the wreck, the Sprinters tumbled from within the lead pack to lower than 20th place.\n"We started off very, very well and ended up in the first wreck," Hosni said. "The whole entire race we were playing catch up, and we just never caught up because we have two people."\nFive laps after Hosni left the race to care for her wound, she exchanged with Clark again. The Sprinters' strategy was to have Hosni start and finish the race while sprinting laps when Clark wasn't logging long sets. Overall, both riders rode more than 40 laps each.\nAfter the wreck, the Sprinters labored to pull closer to the leaders, but they only fell farther behind. By Lap 22, the Sprinters were nearly two laps behind the leading Thetas. By Lap 43, they were nearly four laps behind. At the race's end, the Sprinters finished six laps behind the winners.\n"We didn't make top 10, but we still did our best," Hosni said. "We still rode and we still finished. I couldn't be happier."\nAlthough Hosni and company were satisfied with the final results, smiles vanished from the pit by Lap 60. Clark winced when she got off the stationary bike. When Hosni returned to the pit, she complained, "My elbow is killing me." But the three women in the pit continued to cheer whoever was riding. \nWith 10 laps to go, Clark's legs began to cramp and she was unable to finish her set. Clark had given Hosni only five laps of rest, but splitting time between the two of them had taken too much out of Clark. She made her final exchange with Hosni and began to cry as she watched Hosni ride a turn on one of the final laps.\nWhen the race ended, the riders embraced with family and posed for pictures. The rookies have learned much from their first Little 500, especially its unpredictability. \n"You never know what to expect," Guerrero said. "Going into this, we didn't have a team, and then we had two people, and then people dropped out. Injuries happen; it's just unpredictable. We'll be more prepared next year"