After 18 years, women's field has full lineup for 1st time

Prior to this year, senior Jaimie Hewitt had only been an observer of the Little 500 race. This fall, she decided to get out of the stands and onto the track.\nNow Hewitt, a Wing It rider, will be part of the first full women's field in the 18-year history of the women's Little 500 race.\n"I personally am really excited that it's a full women's field," Hewitt said. "That was motivation to get out there and fill out the race. It's awesome."\nThis fall, Hewitt met with Race Coordinator Lucas Calhoun to inform him of her intention to be part of the race. In the past, Calhoun would have contacted existing teams independent from a sorority and find a spot for women like Hewitt. This year, Calhoun tried a different \napproach.\n"They could have been just as successful on another team, but I really wanted to see them start a team," Calhoun said.\nTeams like Wing It and the all-rookie squad Vitalita were formed to push the size of the field to 33 teams, the same size as the men's field. In 2005 and 2004, the women's field sported 32 teams. The year before, only 29 teams raced.\nCalhoun credits both the interest of IU students and the work of the IU Student Foundation for fostering interest in the women's race.\n"It's great on our end," he said. "It really shows that my students, myself -- we're getting out there and doing the outreach to get teams."\nBut the 33-team women's field is not fully indicative of the interest women had to compete in the race. One team, Gamma Phi Beta, was cut after qualifications because only 33 teams are allowed to compete.\nGamma Phi rider Robin Glancy said she was disappointed her team did not qualify for the race, but she was happy for the interest in the race.\n"It's really good to see so many people out there," she said. "It was really hard because we trained for so long."\nHewitt said it was hard to see Gamma Phi cut after qualifications.\n"It was just more pressure," she said. "You put in a lot of work, and it comes down to how you perform on quals day. You value it more seeing how hard it is -- them not making it."\nAlpha Phi rider Kate Laudermilk said she feels lucky to be in the race given the fact Gamma Phi was cut.\n"Everyone's lucky to be in the race at this point," she said.\nBut Laudermilk said she loved the competition during qualifications.\n"To actually think about qualling into the race, it's great," she said. "It's good to have that many people riding."\nEven with the increased field, the women's race is not completely equal in size as the men's race. The women race 100 laps and the men race 200 laps.\nCalhoun said he has been approached about increasing the length of the women's race, but said it's "not on the horizon now."\nStill, Laudermilk said she would love to see the women as competitive as the men, especially in qualifying.\n"Every year, that would be great," she said. "Even more next year, like the men's. How many were there? Forty-some odd teams? Great"