The men's Team Pursuit championship race was a nail-biter.
The final lap saw teams neck and neck, with supporters cheering passionately from the sideline.
As the racers crossed the finish line, the crowd's roar turned to hushed anticipation Sunday at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington.
"Who won?" a Sigma Alpha Epsilon supporter said.
His shout broke the silence, but it came with no response. Officials at the scorer's table worked diligently to determine the team that finished first, leaving everyone on edge.
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Earlier in the day, 39 of the men's Little 500 cycling teams took their shot at notching one of two final spots.
As the riders sped past the stands, cinder from the track kicked up, and loud whooshes filled the air.
The Team Pursuit competition consists of heats with two separate teams of three or four riders competing for the best overall time. The Team Pursuit began differently than other spring series events— racers dashed toward their bikes, mounted them and took off on a 15-lap race.
After dominating last year's men's Team Pursuit and placing both teams in the championship round, the Black Key Bulls looked to solidify a leaderboard spot that would be hard to knock.
Last year, Sigma Alpha Epsilon narrowly missed that two-team cut owned by BKB, falling just 0.2 seconds short. This year, they raced vigorously against each other, each team finishing within a second of each other and securing the top two leaderboard spots.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon took first place with an official time of 9:38.59, while BKB finished close behind with an official time of 9:39.50.
The pole placements quickly were jumbled again when Delta Tau Delta and Cutters faced off in the same heat.
During last year's Little 500 race Delta Tua Delta and Cutters shared second place, both crossing the finish line with an official time of 2:12:27.
The heat was incredibly close and came down to the wire.
Passing into the 15th and final lap, Cutters was a few seconds ahead. It pushed forward toward the finish line and, upon crossing, saw its time positioned it in first place for the day, knocking BKB and Delta Tau Delta out of the championship rounds.
The leaderboard held throughout the day, with Cutters maintaining its top spot with an official time of 9:33.97. Sigma Alpha Epsilon placed second with an official time of 9:38.59. The Team Pursuit championship race was set between them.
"Jimmy John's number 12,” junior Jacob Zarov said.
"Yeah, took my time,” junior Judah Thompson said. “Biked to Jimmy John's, biked back to the place to freshen up."
After the four-hour break, the racers returned to the track, fueled up and ready to battle it out for the Team Pursuit championship.
The race began with an uproar from the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity members, who made their way to Bill Armstrong Stadium to show support for their team.
"The only goal was beating SAE,” Thompson said. “You don't worry about the pain or the difficulty—that's a given. All you focus on is pinning SAE at the pole and staying one or two seconds ahead of them. Just go from there."
By the halfway mark of the championship, both teams passed the pole, but it was inconclusive who was in the lead as they looked to be within a second of each other.
"Throughout the entire race, you don't really think about what lap you're on," sophomore Cutters rider Billy Gregory said. “For me, we just focused on where SAE was and aimed to beat them. It felt like it went by fast because we weren't paying attention to the laps."
Each time a team passed cheers and jeers came from the crowd of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fans, encouraging their riders and showering the Cutters riders with boos.
“You saw, the entire SAE fraternity was using words against us, which ended up fueling us instead of discouraging us,” Gregory said. “We're used to that now, and everything they said just fueled us even more.”
As the riders churned around the final laps, the crowd grew louder and louder.
On the final lap, a coach from Sigma Alpha Epsilon shouted from the side.
"We got them, we got them!” the coach said. “Finish strong!"
The cheers reached a high point as all the spectators came to their feet, erupting as each team crossed their respective finish line. Then, it fell silent.
Minutes later, an announcement from the PA system broke the silence: "Cutters, you are our champions, official time of 9:15.83. Congratulations."
Sigma Alpha Epsilon fell .18 seconds behind with an official time of 9:16:01.
“We trust each other,” Cutter's rider Junior Kerem Keskin said. "This is the closest team I've been part of. It makes a big difference to enjoy the people you're with. When you suffer together and make progress day by day, it really matters."
After enduring relentless training, only one team will hoist the Little 500 trophy April 26. Following a terrific spring series, the Cutters are determined to be that team.
