Beta, Teter win Team Pursuit

Beta Theta Pi riders knew they had the potential to do something great at Team Pursuit if everything went perfectly.

Beta rode what is believed to be the second best time in men’s Team Pursuit history, finishing with a time of 8:49.70 to win Team Pursuit for the first time in its history.

Cutters reached the finals alongside Beta to clinch the white jersey, given to the winner of the Spring Series, and finished the finals in a time of 9:03.84.

Little 500 Race Director Jordan Bailey said the 1986 Cutters produced the fastest time in Team Pursuit history, finishing in 8:36.

According to the IU Student Foundation records page, which dates back to 1994 with a few gaps in between, only six other times have ever been “sub-9.” Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) last did it in 2005 when it finished its prelims with a time of 8:58.71.

Beta’s 8:49 is better than all of the times listed on the website, including Fiji and Sigma Alpha Epsilon in 1998 and Fiji doing it twice in 1997. None of those times are less than 8:50.

“We were moving,” Beta senior rider Eric Anderson said. “We were moving. It was unbelievable.

“There were a few times we were going so fast that (Will) Kragie’s wheel was kicking out, then my wheel would kick out. We’ve just been doing it so many times. You might freak out if that was your first time doing that. We’ve just done this so many times and have wanted this so badly for so many years.”

The Betas decided to have every rider pull one lap, meaning each rider would take turns leading the other three so they could all draft off of him and conserve energy. This way, no rider gets worked too hard.

“It all just flows so well,” Anderson said. “It’s the eeriest thing. It’s just silent other than our bikes and our breathing. Everyone’s just in a rhythm, just completely zoned in. When it clicks like that, 8:49 happens I guess.”

Beta had wanted to win Team Pursuit more than all of the other Spring Series events. When the team giving them their splits on the Cutters let them know they were increasing their margin every lap and it was becoming sizeable, that motivated Beta to work even harder.

Once those numbers start getting bigger, it’s like blood’s in the water,” Anderson said. “It’s time to really attack and keep the throttle down. When you’ve got four guys who have been doing this for as long as we have, we have the ability to do that. It’s definitely motivating. But at the same time, we were just so dialed in and so focused that no one was going to beat us today.”

Cutters senior Kevin Depasse said his team wanted Team Pursuit more than any of the other Spring Series events. Despite winning the Spring Series, it was bittersweet to finish second in Team Pursuit.

“You don’t work this hard to come in second,” Depasse said. “Good on the Betas. They rode incredibly tonight. That was all them. We rode 9:03. What are you going to do? That’s good on them. That was a great run and they’ve been training hard. Glad to see that program do well.”

Now the two teams, who are friends off the track and have mutual respect for each other, won’t talk for the next week. Now, it’s race week.

“We definitely didn’t want them sweeping the series,” Anderson said. “I know we’re all doing our best to beat them, and I’m sure they’re doing the same thing. It’s going to set up for quite a race on Saturday.”

Like the men’s side, the women’s Team Pursuit came down to two teams garnering more recognition as potential favorites in the 26th running of the women’s Little 500 on Friday afternoon.

Teter, led by senior rider Lisa Hutcheson, edged Delta Gamma for the Team Pursuit title with a finals time of 8:20.11, though the winning effort didn’t arrive without drama.

“After the first round, Ashton (DeHahn) started passing out on the ground, so we didn’t ride her for the second round,” Hutcheson said.

Without DeHahn, the taste of victory was even sweeter for Hutcheson and her Teter squad.

The emotions were running high after the first place finish was sealed.

“It was kind of like we surprised ourselves,” Hutcheson said. “I was surprised with our team of how strong we were in every situation. Our third rider just doesn’t ride, and we ended up with the same result. It was amazing, and it was really rare for the field this year.”

Even more so than at full strength, down the stretch, Teter had to hold off Delta Gamma, which finished second with a finals time of 8:24.35.

“We were speeding up at the end, and Delta Gamma was losing momentum,” Hutcheson said.