Riding until the finish

Delta Gamma has high hopes for this year's race. But it needs to make sure it doesn't have the same problem that haunted the team in the last two years of the women's Little 500. \nIn each of the past two races, the team has been involved in a wreck. In her first race two years ago, senior Kelly Geiger was involved in a crash in just the third lap of the race. Luckily, the team still had 97 laps to catch up. After qualifying 15th in 2000, the DGs raced their way back to a fifth-place finish. \nLast year they were not as fortunate. On the 62nd lap, senior Lauren Naset had just taken the exchange and was trying to make her way back when a crash ensued.\n"I was burning back into the pack, and instead of coming into the back of the pack I wanted to go around it and go to the front so I could push the pace a little bit," Naset said. "As I was moving around it, the girl from Chi-O moved into somebody else's riding space."\nNaset convinced the medical personnel she was OK and made her way back to DG's pit area. She got back on the rollers and started pedaling and was ready for an exchange until she started to feel confused as a result of a concussion.\n"She went (into the med tent) and said 'I'm fine! I'm fine! I'm fine!' They kept trying to figure out if she was OK to ride," junior Katie Mackey said. "She comes back in the pit, and coach says 'Lauren can you go in pretty soon?'\n"She gets out on the track, gets in her exchange stance and says, 'What do I do?'" \nDown a rider that late in the race, DG still managed an eighth-place finish.\nAfter two years of misfortune, the team hopes the bad luck is out of its system. \n"For some reason I'm not as scared of that possibility anymore," Mackey said.\nEven if something were to happen, Geiger said experience will carry the team through the race.\n"We had a wreck on the start (two years ago), so I'm not scared of the start at all," Geiger said. "And Lauren had a wreck in the middle of the race (last year), so I'm not scared of that happening again.\n"And if it does, we know what to do. We've been there and done it."\nIf something did go wrong, DG is more confident it would still be able to compete at the top.\n"If we had somebody taken out who couldn't finish the race, any three of us would be relatively strong still," Mackey said.\nEight to 10 people showed interest in riding for DG the week after the race. That number was trimmed to four rookies who trained in the fall. Mackey said she noticed some of them were losing interest and did her best to keep interest high.\n"I probably wouldn't even be riding if (Mackey) wouldn't have talked me into it," sophomore Jennifer Arnold said.\nThat still doesn't stop Arnold from asking questions, keeping her rookie side in check.\n"I don't really know what's going on, so I'm in their room all the time asking what I am going to do at the track the next day," she said.\nDG qualified ninth with a time of 2:57.44. The team was one rider short during qualifications, Mackey being sidelined with a broken hand. Satisfied with their position, the DG riders said Mackey's injury disrupted the normal flow. \n"The people we practiced exchanging with (over spring break) weren't the people we actually went through (qualifications) with in the same order," Arnold said. "So that kind of threw things off."\nTeams also have fans who cheer them on. The ladies of DG are very supportive of the team, but none motivate them as much as Bill Geiger Sr.\n"I think he's more instrumental in our motivation than I would ever give him credit for," Mackey said. "At Team Pursuit last year, he was at one corner, and every time I passed the corner, I hear him going 'pedal through the turns, pedal through the turns, pedal through the turns.'\n"And I kept pedaling through the turns."\nGeiger Sr., whose son, Bill Geiger Jr., is a senior on the IU baseball team, played football under John Pont from 1969-1973. He was confused when his daughter first told him she wanted to train for the Little 500. \nThe women's race did not exist until 15 years ago. When Geiger Sr. was at IU, the women rode in the Mini 500, a tricycle race. He has not only been impressed with his daughter's performance, but with the race as a whole.\n"I think it's an awesome race," Geiger Sr. said. "I saw the girls race when she was a sophomore and became a big fan of the DG bike team." \nWhile pleasing fans is good, and the ultimate goal is winning, the seniors are doing this for more than just a checkered flag. They are interested in sparking interest throughout their sorority and building a strong foundation for the bike team.\n"We put a lot of focus on improving our house's program," Naset said. "We find a lot of girls in the house get really into riding after the race. They support DG at the track freshman year. After seeing everything that goes into the day, everyone gets fired up about it"