Phi Delta Theta, Teter claim pole positions

Phi Delta Theta cycling team captain Matt Kain wasn’t very optimistic after his team climbed to the top of the qualifications leaderboard Saturday at Bill Armstrong Stadium.

“Talk to Cutters when they take the pole,” he said.

But Cutters never took the pole. And on Saturday afternoon, Phi Delta Theta carried the pole after finishing fourth in qualifications last year and 15th in the 2008 Little 500.

Along with a record-setting performance on the women’s side by Teter, which finished second last year and claimed its third consecutive pole, riders said this year’s qualifications showed the competition for the upcoming Little 500 will be fiercer than ever.

The weather was wet and cold, but the track was hot, with members of the men’s and women’s teams making times that outperformed last year’s results, sometimes by a matter of full seconds.

Compared to last year’s pole time of 2:23.20 and last qualifying time of 2:40.74, the men’s field this year is tighter and faster, with a pole time of 2:22.69 and a last qualifying time of 2:35.40.

In the women’s field, Teter bested its pole time from last year by about four seconds.

Clocking in at 2:35.54, the team claimed a spot in the IU Student Foundation’s record books, beating the old qualifying time record of 2:36.14 set by Kappa Kappa Gamma in 2005.

The women’s race pack is not as tight as last year, with the last qualifying time for the women being 3:50.53, compared to last year’s 3:42.46.

Teter captain Jackie Moeller said her team’s goal was not to win the pole, and that its record-setting performance came as a surprise.

“It feels great,” Moeller said. “We just wanted to go out and do it on one attempt, ride as hard as we could and make clean exchanges. We expected to be fast, but we didn’t think it would be this much faster. We totally thought we’d be a lot closer with other teams today.”

Moeller also said the pole puts “a lot of pressure” on her and her teammates, but she said she is confident with their position.

Some teams, such as Wing It, a women’s team, decided to use the same rider twice. Despite its disadvantages, Wing It still took second in the women’s standings.

“I left it all out on the track,” said Jaime Boswell, a veteran rider for Wing It and its two-lap rider. “I just tried to remember to keep my feet fast and that I was only doing two laps and I would be done after that.”

Members from other top-performing teams, such as Gray Goat Cycling, a men’s team, which finished seventh with a time of 2:25.32, said they were disappointed with their times and believed they could have done better.

“I know we had a little mess up on the first exchange, and we had to go twice,” Matt Kiel, co-captain of Gray Goat Cycling, said. “That slowed us up a bit. We were hoping to do a little bit better.”

Of 41 teams posted to perform for the men’s qualifications, 40 made an appearance. The seven teams that missed the qualification time were Zeta Beta Tau, the Roman Gauge Switchblades, Cinzano, ACC, Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Cycling 4 Freedom. All 31 women’s teams made the cut.

“It’s basically defined my semester – my year, really,” said Andrew Johnson of Cinzano, who could not ride in qualifications because of a medical problem. “It was worthwhile.”

For those who qualified, this is just the beginning, with Individual Time Trials, Miss N’ Out, Team Pursuit and the Little 500 still to come.

“We are happy to be in the race and look forward to April 25,” Kain said.