The “World’s Greatest College Weekend” is the landmark sporting event in Bloomington every year, and preparations are fully underway. With the races only weeks away during April 25-26, qualifications took place Saturday at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
The men’s qualifications consisted of 33 spots up for grabs, with 38 teams competing. Qualification races consist of four laps per team, one per team member, with transitions in between. The transition is called an “exchange” — where bikers must stop in a small box around the finish line to allow the next rider to hop on.
Exchanges are one of the most important parts of the race to nail down, as a bad exchange can potentially ruin a team’s qualifying chances or drastically set a team back during the main event. As a result, many teams put extra attention on the exchange during training.
“We put big emphasis on practicing our exchanges,” William Bridgwater, a sophomore Forest Cycling rider, said Saturday. “A lot of people can rip a fast lap, but honestly, in quals, it comes down to being able to do smooth and fast exchanges.”
Qualification began early at 8 a.m., although the temperature was mercifully in the high 60s. Despite the early starting time, the crowds were almost at capacity. Sigma Phi Epsilon, who earned the leading time during 2024 qualifications, posted a time of 2:26.286 to set the tone in the early races.
However, Forest was the most impressive early. Despite having finished 20th in last year’s qualifiers and 17th in the main event, Forest claimed a time of 2:26.682. They finished in fifth place, less than a half-second behind Sigma Phi Epsilon in fourth.
As the day continued, the favorites continued to churn out quality times. Cutters, who snatched silver in last year’s race, captured 12th with a time of 2:31.873. Sigma Alpha Epsilon, which finished sixth place last year after leading for over 100 laps, claimed second place with a time of 2:24.825. Delta Tau Delta, which claimed bronze last year, finished 14th with a time of 2:32.230.
Black Key Bulls finished above the rest during qualifications, just as they did during last year’s race. After infamously failing to qualify for the 2023 race, BKB surged back to win the 2024 Little 500, finishing three seconds ahead of Cutters and Delts.
If these qualifications are anything to go by, BKB has not stopped in their pursuit of being the best.
“We really wanted to come back and just show that last year wasn’t a fluke,” sophomore rider Wiley Close said. “We’re still around, we’re still competitive, and we want to keep it that way.”
After their collapse in 2023, BKB found a different way to stand out from the pack. Rather than relying on the brilliance of individual riders, they have fully emphasized gelling as a team.
“We haven’t earned anything yet this year, so we want to go ahead and start earning now,” Close said.
While the favorites secured their spots, Saturday was a day for every team to show out and support. Sigma Chi fans roared in celebration when their last biker crossed the finish, despite knowing they had finished last by some distance in the men’s qualifiers. Phi Gamma Delta — commonly referred to as Fiji — took up a large section of the middle stands to cheer on their fellow fraternity brothers.
Even though the men’s race is April 26, there are still three more events that take place before it, labelled the “Spring Series.” These include the men’s Individual Time Trials on Tuesday, Miss-N-Out on April 5 and Team Pursuit on April 13.
Final Qualification results:
1. Black Key Bulls
2. Sigma Alpha Epsilon
3. 3PH
4. Sigma Phi Epsilon
5. Forest Cycling
6. Chi Alpha
7. Phi Delta Theta
8. Phi Gamma Delta
9. Sigma Nu
10. Cinzano
11. Human Wheels
12. Cutters
13. Beta Sigma Psi
14. Delta Tau Delta
15. Gray Goat
16. Alpha Sigma Psi
17. Bears
18. Chi Phi
19. Novus
20. Alpha Kappa Lambda
21. Americana
22. Pi Kappa Alpha
23. IU Dance Marathon
24. Godspeed
25. Tau Epsilon Psi
26. Alpha Kappa Psi
27. Phi Kappa Psi
28. Christian Student Fellowship
29. Theta Chi
30. Phi Sigma Kappa
31. Delta Sigma Pi
32. Beta Theta Pi
33. Army Cycling
