Roadrunners hang on to capture race

On Lap 93 of the 100-lap race, Kappa Alpha Theta senior Krissy Johnson took the exchange, hopped on her Mongoose bicycle and built a quarter of a lap lead on the three other teams that remained on the lead lap: Roadrunners, Kappa Delta and Alpha Gamma Delta. \nBut when Johnson needed her legs, on the final lap's back-straightaway, she could not make up the half a straightaway lead that Roadrunner sophomore Jenn Wangerin had built to win the 14th running of the women's Little 500.\n"I just don't believe it's over," Wangerin said. "It really came together for us."\nAt the 25-lap mark Delta Gamma, Roadrunners and the Thetas were setting the pace, averaging 20.454 miles per hour. By Lap 40, the group of DG, Roadrunners, Thetas, Alpha Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Delta and Con Fuoco were the only teams on the lead lap out of the 30 participating.\nThe race was then slowed again by an accident in between Turns 3 and 4 as Ashton and DG were caught in a wreck that ruined any chances for DG victory. \nWith three-fourths of the race completed, only four teams remained on the lead lap -- Roadrunners, Thetas, Kappa Delta and Alpha Gamma Delta. A bad exchange between AGD riders on Lap 92 dropped them to the back of the pack of four, but the team found themselves fighting with the leaders in the final laps.\nAGD senior rider Heather Poag is the only veteran member of a team that has three rookies. She said the performance was a surprise but a pleasant one.\n"We didn't start training until rookie times (in February)," Poag said. "This is just the result of the hard work that we've put into the race."\nThe Thetas made their move on Lap 93, and Johnson pulled away to a substantial lead, but it wore her down, leaving her tired for the final seconds of the event.\n"It was a choice of whether to tell her to go now with eight laps left or save herself and go later," Theta coach Ann Holterhoff said. "We had (Johnson) on the bike, and we told her to go. The Roadrunners had a fresh rider at the end. That's just the luck of the draw."\nIn the middle of the backstretch, Wangerin made her move, passed Johnson and took the checkered flag for the Roadrunners, something she said she knew they were going to do.\n"We knew we were the best team out here," Wangerin said. "I wasn't going to let them beat us. You really don't want to pass on the inside, but I thought I would just go 15 seconds as hard as I could."\nRoadrunners coach Susan Gasowski said the win shows that the hard work throughout the year and extra training in the last month leading up to the race was really worth it.\n"We knew that race day was going to be our day," Gasowski said.