The greatest college weekend

History has a funny way of repeating itself. \nIn 1984, the first Cutters team qualified in 10th place and finished first. \nIn 2004, the 20th Cutters team qualified in 10th place and finished first. \nThis year's Little 500 season began as the Cutters' year even before the riders stepped out onto the track. The most famous Little 500 team embarked on two milestones this year -- the movie "Breaking Away," which inspired the team, was released 25 years ago, and in reality, the team was formed and won its first race 20 years ago. \nAdd to the list its seventh win this year and a celebration with the original Cutters team.\n"It's huge," senior Cutters rider Chris Vargo said. "Winning would be huge anyways, but winning with the alumni here is awesome. We all look up to them, so it's awesome."\nThis year was special for the team, and it only seemed to build as the race approached. \nThrough the series events, the Cutters began to emerge as the team to beat. Vargo won Individual Time Trials and the rest of the team placed in the top 15. Miss-N-Out was also dominated by Vargo, who made it to the finals, while three other teammates advanced to the semi-final heats. Team Pursuit was the Cutters' final test, which the team aced, beating Phi Gamma Delta in the final heat. With first-place wins in two of the four series events and a great performance on the rest, the team won the overall series title, which placed it high on competitors' radar screens. \nIt didn't seem to matter how marked the team was, its performance through the season proved the Cutters riders worthy to yet again claim the Little 500 trophy as their own. \nAnd with many important people watching. \nWith 2004 being such a milestone year for the Cutters family, the four original Cutters riders -- Randy Strong, Adam Beck, Adam Giles and Scott Senese -- were trackside to take in all the action. \nThe former Little 500 riders made a lap around the track before the race and took it all in as the current team celebrated the win.\n"When we started this team, our intension wasn't to create a team that would be here for 20 years, let alone win seven races," Giles said. "It's really cool that people have stayed involved with the program."\nGiles said the best part of coming back is to come back to the program and see the team as it was years ago -- the team still rides aggressively and is continuing the tradition it started two decades ago. \nThough the win was celebrated by the alumni and hundreds of fans decked out in white "Cutters" T-shirts, the win is all because of the 2004 team, which, through it all, stayed strong and raced hard.\n"You wouldn't even be able to believe how much pressure was on these kids," Cutters coach Jim Kirkham said. "The pressure was so heavy, so for them to continue to ride hard, it means a lot. The 20th anniversary, incredible win; we have all of our alumni here, but it's for the riders now. It's not for the past, it's not for the alumni -- they just make for great headlines."\n-- Contact staff writer Katie Schoenbaechler at kmschoen@indiana.edu.