When Kappa Kappa Gamma rider Jess Sapp crossed the finish line to win Friday's Little 500, she did so by topping some of the best riders in the field.\nIn the final three laps, Sapp battled Kappa Delta's Lauren Ziemba, Alpha Gamma Delta's Kirstin Olson and Alpha Phi's Katie Thompson for the checkered flag. All four riders finished in the top 13 during the Individual Time Trial.\n"I knew I was with the best riders here at Indiana University, and I felt so privileged to be in that position on that lap," Ziemba said.\nThrough her tears, Thompson recalled her final Little 500.\n"(I am) bittersweet because it's all over," she said. "This week has gone by so fast. So much has happened that, it's like the first time I get to stop for a second. All the emotions are coming out. I'm just happy I was at the last lap."\nBesting a talented field made it all the more memorable for Sapp.\n"(It was) so exciting," Sapp said. "(It) makes the race even a little more exciting because you know you chased down at least three of the top riders. It makes it so much more exciting for the riders and the fans."\n
Theta comes back from early crash to finish 7th
\nWhen sophomore Ali McCormick broke her collar bone twelve laps into last Friday's Little 500, Kappa Alpha Theta's dreams of a fifth Little 500 title were shattered.\nGoing into the third turn, McCormick collided with an out-of-control rider who had just come out of the pits on an errant exchange. The contact caused McCormick to flip over her handlebars and onto the cinder track at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Losing a rider so early in the race put added pressure on the rest of the team.\n"You certainly have to expect your other riders to really reach down within themselves and pull out an even greater race than they were capable of pulling out before we had that problem," Kappa Alpha Theta coach Tom Schwoegler said. "The three Kappa Alpha Theta riders did that today."\nOnce the crash occurred, Schwoegler knew his team could not compete for the title. Instead, he made the team's goal to catch the lead team on that lap, Bella Veloce, after the crash. By the end of the race, the Theta team passed Bella Veloce for its seventh-place finish.\nMcCormick was proud of the hard work and perseverance her team put in once she crashed.\n"They were amazing, and I knew they would be," she said. "I feel so bad, and I feel so guilty, but they did well today, and I knew they would."\nWith three returning riders next year, Schwoegler said his team has extra motivation to build off this year's result.\n"I don't know of anything that motivates the Kappa Alpha Theta team more than a Kappa Kappa Gamma team that has one more trophy than we do," he said.\n
Black Key Bulls move from 22nd to 7th
\nThe Black Key Bulls qualified in 22nd position for Saturday's men's race after a bad exchange caused the team to qualify with just two riders. Despite starting so far back, many teams said before the race that the Black Key Bulls were a team to look out for once the green flag dropped.\n"We knew we had a really good team," junior Ryan Knapp said. "We knew we had to fight out of a really bad qual spot." \nThe team lived up to expectations on race day as they made the biggest improvement of the race by moving up 15 spots to seventh place. Black Key Bulls were first shown in the top 10 when the officials updated the official standings on lap 60. The team did not fall out of the top 10 for the rest of the afternoon and even made its way to third place for a moment.\nThe first-year team said they were pleased with their riding and hope to come back strong next year.\n"I'm really proud of our guys that they didn't get down, because you have a month between quals and the race to think about how bad your starting position is," Knapp said. "But we really kept our heads up and almost forgot about how bad our starting position was. We have everybody coming back. We did a lot for a first-year team."\n--Staff writers Brian Janosch and Michael Sanserino contributed to this report.
