On the final lap of the men’s Miss N Out on Saturday, Joe and Andrew Krahulik took over, and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon pair took the top two spots in the event.
By a wheel length, Joe, the younger of the two and a sophomore, won the event by beating his brother by the narrowest of margins.
“I have been dreaming of getting the one-two with my brother,” Joe said. “I thought we would be closer on Individual Time Trials, but we had a little mechanical problem. I don’t have the words for what this means to me.”
Andrew said the pair had been training for that race the entire summer before this school year at the Velodrome.
One had been training harder than the other though, at least according to one brother.
“I knew he had worked harder,” Andrew said. “So I was going to let him win.”
While Andrew might be joking about letting his brother win, the pair’s last lap was no joking matter.
The duo dominated the finals field as the two sprinted toward the finish and left third-place Delta Tau Delta senior Luke Tormoehlen’s comeback attempt behind.
“It was euphoria,” Joe said. “I was just overjoyed to be in that situation, and it is one of the coolest things I have done.”
Joe took the Individual Time Trials title Wednesday night and said he thought he could carry that success into Saturday’s Miss N Out.
“I am incredibly proud how well he’s doing,” Andrew said. “I like to brag, and, as his coach, I am very happy that I have coached the second fastest ITTs time ever. It’s a great motivator for me, and it’s great to be doing this with him.”
On Wednesday night, the riders battled the rain and lightning, while Saturday brought heavy winds throughout the day.
“I thought the conditions suited my style,” Joseph said. “I just stayed on the front end and tried to push it harder than other people could.”
Joe said he credits his physical dimensions and strength with helping him fight through the difficult wind Saturday at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
The experience with the wind reminded him of swimming in high school, he said.
“The wind brought out a lot of strategy,” Andrew said. “It really favored the older guys that had been doing it for longer.”
Andrew said the wind made the day more fun because it was so much more painful and made advancing in every round that much more difficult, and as a result, more rewarding.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon will start eighth but looks to be a challenger for the Little 500 title after the emergence of the sibling duo during the Spring Series.
“I think we have a lot of confidence now,” Joe said. “I think we are going to be able to set ourselves up for the race. We are in good shape.”
