Forest carries on Residence Hall tradition

The Little 500 races are often dominated by the greek teams on the IU campus, with residence hall teams and independent teams scattered in.\nBut it is the tradition of having residence hall team's in the Little 500 that keeps Forest Fire coach Sarah Nessler involved in the race activities. Nessler rode in the women's race in 1999 when she was a junior at IU.\n"I lived in the residence halls when I was a resident assistant, and we are trying to keep the tradition alive of having residence hall teams," Nessler said.\nForest Fire team member, junior Becky Lockwood, believes putting together residence hall teams and finding proper training schedules can prove harder than what sorority teams may face.\n"I think the big difference is that in a sorority you are living with those people," Lockwood said. "We are pretty much scattered on and off campus, so it makes it harder to get together, we can't just walk down the hall and say, 'Hey, let's go for a ride.' I would definitely say that we have a disadvantage because we have so little money and because we are scattered all across campus."\nLockwood and senior teammates Michelle Vaught and Melissa Blake all went through rookie training last year and Vaught and Blake competed in the race. Junior Cheresa Jonkman is the lone rookie on the Forest Fire team.\nWith the experience of the other three riders and guidance from Nessler, Jonkman said she believes she will be ready on race day.\n"(Nessler) is kind of the mediator between all of us," Jonkman said. "If someone feels that someone else isn't really pulling their weight or they aren't working as hard, she can kind of step in and tell you exactly what is expected of you. That has been a big help to me, because I always didn't know where I stood on the team and if I was doing what I should be."\nThe team qualified in 17th place with a time of 3:05.583. Last year Vaught and Blake were part of the Forest team that finished 24th after qualifying 20th.\nVaught said the team didn't really have any expectations going into last year's race, but with a year under their belt, they will look to improve on race day this year.\n"We feel like there is room to improve," Vaught said. "Our qualification was a little slow for us because we had to be really conservative with our changes since we had already fouled twice in the morning. I think anything could happen (in the race). We don't really expect to be in the top 10, but we could probably be anywhere from 10th to 25th depending on what happens."\nHaving three veterans and with the progress of Jonkman, Nessler thinks the team has a legitimate shot to finish in the top 10.\n"Their goal is to place top 10, and they have the will, strength and determination to do it," Nessler said. "I am hoping that things go well for us and that they can actually meet their goal"