Miss-n-Out on the fun

Kappa Kappa Gamma rider Jess Sapp was in familiar position. \nAs a sophomore in 2004, Sapp made the final round of Miss-n-Out, a light-hearted round-by-round elimination race, but finished third behind Teter rider Bri Kovac. Sapp used lessons from that race to outlast Bella Veloce rider Abby Cooper and Kappa Delta rider Lauren Ziemba to win Saturday afternoon. \nTrack position was the difference between Sapp's sophomore and senior years. After winning the Individual Time Trials Wednesday night, Sapp started each race on the inside of the track, giving her a slight advantage against the two riders. \nThough Sapp led most of the race, Cooper led a charge on the backstretch to try to take the lead from Sapp. \n"When Abby and I were coming around, I could tell she kind of picked it up, but I didn't want to lose my first place position," Sapp said. "I just had to stay with her and then gave it 100 percent coming around on turn three."\nDuring Miss-n-Out, competitors race in groups and the lowest rider after each lap is eliminated. For the final heat of six, the first three are eliminated lap-by-lap and the final three remaining have a two-lap race for the title. \nSapp's victory follows some controversy regarding the elimination of Teter rider Sarah Rieke -- the second rider eliminated in the final heat. When her number was announced as being eliminated, the crowd erupted in protest. Just the lap before, the finish was so close race officials did not eliminate a rider.\nCooper said the extra lap might have changed some riders' race strategies. \n"It kind of psyches girls out and you can't let it get to you," Cooper said. "Some girls get it into their head that they are only going to ride four laps and they are psyched out when they have to ride one more, but you got to do what you got to do."\nSapp said she was excited to win both individual series events, but that isn't getting to her head.\nShe points to last year, when Kappa competed well in series events but finished third in the race, as reason not to lose focus.\n"These are all fun and they're a semi-indicator of some the top riders on the field, but then you have that whole luck thing going on race day so you never know what's going to happen," she said.\nFollowing Sapp, Cooper placed second and Ziemba third. Alpha Phi's Katie Thompson, Rieke and Kappa Delta's Lindsey Manck placed fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.\nWhile Sapp was able to capture both individual series titles, Alpha Tau Omega rider Hans Arnesen was unable to hold off a late charge by Cutters' Alex Bishop to repeat as Miss-n-Out champion.\n"There were a lot of strong riders there in the top six, but the track's a little slippery, a little softer than I thought," Arnesen said. "So I had a hard time getting up to speed there, misjudged the sprint and, you know, got second."\nArnesen won both ITTs and Miss-n-Out in 2005.\nBishop said it was his race strategy to let Arnesen set the pace and try to catch him off guard on the last couple turns.\n"I think he was expecting me to come, but not that hard and that early," said Bishop, who finished second in the ITTs.\nFollowing Bishop and Arnesen was Briscoe's Michael Carey in third. Dodd's House rider Chris Cartier placed fourth and teammate Daniel Houchens placed fifth. Black Key Bulls rider Isaac Neff finished sixth.