Repeat as Spring Series champions, then repeat as Little 500 champions.
Heading into race day, the defending race winner is halfway there. It overcame a 12-point deficit in Team Pursuit to win the Spring Series title over second place Beta Theta Pi.
“This is really great for our team,” senior Spencer Brauchla said after clinching the title. “For us to come out here and win Spring Series again is good for us going into the race.”
Cutters’ Nicholas Thiery kicked off the Spring Series with a win in Individual Team Trials. He held off defending ITT winner Chris Craig of Beta to win the title by being the only rider under the 2:20 mark.
Craig led Beta with the second place finish, followed closely behind my teammate Kyle Knight in second. Joe Laughlin rounded out Beta’s three scoring riders in 19th.
The Black Key Bulls were able to flex their depth in ITTs, putting four riders in the top 14 and all seven of its riders in the top 52.
Beta was able to pull out in front of Black Key Bulls in Miss-N-Outs, led by Craig, who won for a second consecutive year.
Craig beat Thiery and Phi Delta Theta’s Rob Lee in a three-man sprint to take the title while two other Beta’s advanced to the semi-finals to help Beta build its lead.
Craig said being able to win in Miss-N-Outs made up for his disappointment after coming up just short in repeating as the ITTs ?champion.
“I was very happy with our team performance in ITTs, but you know, I really wanted to win this year,” Craig said. “Getting the Miss-N-Outs win was really good for me on my senior year.”
Despite the strong showing in Miss-N-Outs, Beta was unable to hold off a Black Key Bulls charge on the final day in Spring Series.
The Black Key Bulls put on one of the most dominating Team Pursuit performances in recorded history, putting two teams in the top three and clinching the Spring Series in the process.
The Black Key Bulls split up their seven-man roster into two teams. Their four-man team ran an 8:56.42 in the finals to beat Delta Tau Delta by just under ?seven seconds.
The second team finished third with a time of 9:15.35, putting another team in between the first team and Beta which ultimately helped the Black Key Bulls repeat as Spring Series champs.
