The baseball team competes with the Little 500 race for campus attention this weekend as the Hoosiers face Eastern Kentucky in a three-game series at Sembower Field.
The softball squad will be in Chicago today for a doubleheader against Northwestern that could turn out to be one of the most crucial series of the year. With a pair of wins today, the Hoosiers (3-9) could move past the Wildcats (4-6) in the Big Ten standings. IU is tied with Minnesota for 10th in the conference.
Not all the activities during this year's Little 500 weekend will occur on the track. Producer Kendall Harnett's documentary about the history of the race, "Free Wheels: The Fifty Year History of the Little 500," is scheduled to premiere Saturday, before and after the men's race.
Wednesday, the baseball team traveled to Oxford, Ohio for a reunion of sorts for with the Miami coaching staff.
While she was moving from Oklahoma to Washington to southern California and eventually to Indianapolis, Kappa Alpha Theta senior Krissy Johnson never got on a bike, except for a ten-speed she had when she was little. Now Johnson is one of the fastest riders on the Bill Armstrong Stadium track and will be leading the defending Little 500 champions Friday.
Acacia rider and junior Kevin Vanes realized something after his first Little 500 race last year: "I needed to learn how to ride the bike." As a rookie, Vanes was clueless about many of the intracasies that go along with the 200-lap race around the quarter-mile cinder track in Bill Armstrong Stadium.
Playing on the softball team and performing as captain of her dance team in Newport, N.Y., was the only physical activity that Alpha Delta Pi senior Emily Derkasch said she did in high school. Riding a bike was something she considered a leisure activity. It wasn't until her sophomore year in college that she saw it as something more than a hobby.
Sophomore Jenn Wangerin wouldn't have believed it if someone told her a year ago that she would be riding for the Roadrunners in the 2001 women's Little 500. A year ago, she had no idea what the Little 500 was. "Last year I read about the Cutters winning, and I think that was the first time I ever heard about the race," Wangerin said. "I'm from Dyer, Ind., and my coach is from Munster (Ind.), so the local paper had a story about that, too. But that was it."
Sigma Alpha Epsilon junior Dan Burns arrived at his team's pit on the north side of Bill Armstrong Stadium after completing a 10-lap set during afternoon practice last week. Burns, who rarely appears tired, yelled at two of his teammates, junior Ryan McBee and senior Will Fife, instead of taking a quick rest.
The three teams that comprise Row 2 all finished in the top 10 in last year's women's Little 500. Delta Gamma and Chi Omega each have riders returning from last year, but the 2000 runner-up, Kappa Kappa Gamma, will be the least experienced team in the row with four rookies in their line-up.
A team with two of the top riders, a team that could be a darkhorse and a team that surprised many observers with its qualifying attempt will start from Row 2.
In the men's Row 3, Chi Phi looks for redemption after not being allowed to race last year. Dodds returns half of its 10th-place team, and Cinzano plans to take advantage of its cycling and mountain biking skills.
Defending women's champions Kappa Alpha Theta fill out Row 3 along with all-rookie team Single Speed Sprinters and up-and-coming Kappa Delta. The Thetas and Kappa Delta have returned half of their riders, while the Sprinters hope to surprise people.
A mix of talent and youth makes up Row 4. Each team is almost even in the experience range, but it's going to be the depth each team shows that is going to win out.
For the teams in Row 4, the road to the Little 500 race has been a bumpy one. But the only thing that has persevered is the confidence the teams have in themselves.
IU to battle Butler in spring contest The women's soccer team hasn't allowed a goal in 450 minutes this spring season, winning all five of its games.
New York, New Jersey and Bloomington. At first glance, the only comparison that can be drawn is rough traffic conditions. But a closer look shows four members of the men's tennis team, all natives of the New York-New Jersey area
Lifting weights on his day off, junior first baseman Gibran Hamdan sticks out from his teammates on the baseball team. It's not because he's 6-foot-5, 225 pounds. It's because he's the only player wearing football pants.
The IU baseball team gets a break from Big Ten competition as it travels to Miami (Ohio) to take on the RedHawks in a mid-week game Wednesday in Oxford, Ohio. The Hoosiers are coming off a one-for-four weekend against Northwestern. Miami is fresh off a four-game sweep of Mid-American Conference rival Buffalo, improving its record to 19-17. The RedHawks also have victories against Kentucky and Cincinnati.
The all-greek Row 5 features teams with a mixture of returning riders and rookies. Delta Tau Delta is the favorite to emerge out of this group, but a confident Sigma Nu team could slide to the top. Kappa Sigma has a third-year rider to share his experience with a young team.
