Cutters and Teter Cycling won this weekend’s Team Pursuit for the men’s and women’s divisions, respectively. This was the final event in the 2023 Spring Cycling Series before the Little 500 race on April 21 and 22.
Team Pursuit starts out with two four-person teams lined up on opposite sides of the track, where riders sprint 20 feet to their bikes and begin a 15-lap race. Although the teams are technically facing each other, the main objective is to post the fastest time possible overall for a chance at the championship at the end of the night. This was the third event of the series, but the first team event, following qualifiers and individual time trials.
Leading the men’s group was Cutters with a time of 9:27.71. Cutters continued to show its dominance in the Spring Cycling Series, as it also posted the top time in qualifiers.
Rounding out the top five were Sigma Phi Epsilon (9:27.96), Delta Tau Delta (9:35.89), Black Key Bulls (9:36.29) and Alpha Sigma Phi (9:49.68).
On the women’s side, Teter walked away with the win by a noticeable margin, posting a 10:38.68 time compared to Melanzana’s second place time at 11:00.23. Teter was able to improve from its second-place finish in qualifiers. The rest of the top five includes Delta Gamma (11:01.96), SKI (11:21.37) and Kappa Alpha Theta (11:27.41).
One of the key challenges of the race was endurance and maintaining a level pace, as many of the riders gave out before they could finish. Phi Kappa Psi fifth-year senior Carson Etnyre said keeping everyone together and starting out fast was the team’s key going into the event.
After placing in ninth in the race, Etnyre said he wasn’t focused on the result itself, but more on the preparation the team developed.
“It probably wasn’t the exact outcome we had, but what we’re really focused on is the race,” Etnyre said. “All in all, it was a fine day for us.”
Etnyre said Team Pursuit was a good test for Little 500 because the event was more team-oriented versus individual.
“It requires communication and is a sign of how guys can hang in the pack, and overall strength,” Etnyre said. “I feel like nothing exactly simulates the race itself, but this is definitely the closest.”
