By Nick Jenkinson-SCINN Sports Director
Kappa Alpha Theta has won the last two Women’s Little 500 Bike Races and 10 titles overall and they look add to their legacy and dominance this afternoon when they take to the track at the Bill Armstrong Stadium on the Indiana University Campus for the 38th Annual Women’s Little 500 Bike Race at 4 PM this afternoon and Will be broadcast on the IU Student Foundation You Tube Channel
33 Teams will battle for 100 laps or 25 Miles to be Crowned the Queens of Indiana University Intermural Track Cycling. Since the Women’s Race began in 1988 10 teams have won back-to-back titles and never has a team won three times in a row but could this be day that this historic feat is achieved.
Kappa Alpha Theta will start from the pole and look to cement their place in History. Kappa Alpha Theta has won back-to-back titles in 1994-95, 2014-15, 2017-18 and 2024-25 along with two titles in 2000 and 2003 but Teter Cycling, Alpha Chi Omega, Delta Gamma and Melanzana who round out the top five will all be in the hunt to chase down Kappa Alpha Theta.
Teter is a four-time champion and is looking for their first title since 2019. Teter went back-to-back in 2010-11 and won in 2005. They will be led by Lydia Faraday who won the Spring Individual Time Trials and took home the Team Pursuit Title.
Alpha Chi Omega has never won the title and Libby Lewis who became the first Freshmen to win Individual Time Trials Women or Men is back for her second go around and she has made her mark winning the Fall Individual Time Trials and the Spring Miss-N-Out Event in her second year and will continue to add to her resume with two more years left on campus.
Delta Gamma who starts fourth is looking for its fifth title and first since 2021. The Delts went back-to-back in 2012-13 and won their first title in 2008. Melenzana starts fifth and they went back-to-back in 2022-23 and they have been mainstay at the top of field.
Former Champions in the Field Include Five-time champions Kappa Kappa Gamma who will start 7th and won in 1996, 1998-99, 2004 and 2006. Kappa Delta who won in 2007 starts 9th. 2009 Champion Phi Beta Phi starts 17th. Ride On Cycling who won the Cyclocross Event in the fall starts 8th. There was a Street Spirnts race in the fall as this is not a one-day event these teams train year around for this day and now the time has come to put it all on the line.
There are six former champions are not in this field that include 2016 Champions Phoenix. Three Time Champion Roadrunners 1997, 2001 and 2002. Two Time Back-to-Back Champions Landsharks 1992- 1993. 1991 Champion Le Pas. 1990 Champion Team Sprint. 1989 Champion Beyond Control and the first ever Women’s Little 500 Champions in 1988 Wilke Sprint.
The Race is put on by the Indiana University Student Foundation which was founded in 1936 and in 1951 Howard S. Wilcox Jr. who was the Executive Director of the Indiana University Foundation started the Little 500 which was modeled after the Indianapolis 500 in which his dad Howard S. Wilcox Sr. won 1919. Money raised by the event scholarships for Indiana University Students which in 2019 was over two million dollars and seven years later is around three million dollars. The Trophy giving to the winning team is a replica of the Borg Warner Trophy given out to the winner of the Indianapolis 500.
There is the Students Helping Students initiative which has raised $61,747 raised for the Food Insecurity Fund which includes 1,198 Student Donors along with 55 Little 500 Teams met the Patch Threshold and 21 Student Organization Partners. There is a Riders Council where members are selected based on basis of their commitment to the improvement of the Little 500. The Steering Committee is a group of student leaders who guide the Philanthropic efforts and Little 500 events of the IU Student Foundation.
There will be four new members inducted in the Little 500 Hall of Fame as the Class of 2026 includes three women and one man who made their mark competing in this event while a student at Indiana University. The Four Member Class is Kayce Doogs of Delta Gamma who was the 2011 Rookie of the Year, 2 Time Champion in 2012-13 and 2 Time All Star Rider who started in Track and Field and switched to cycling when her career ended by Knee Injuries. Kristie (Hewitt) Mauss 2009 Graduate and competed for Wing it Cycling, she was a 2-time Women’s Individual Time Trial Winner 2008-09 and 2 Time All Star and had Two top 10 Finishes as a team.
Caroline (Brown) Feldman who competed for Phi Beta Phi from 2008-11 won the Rookie of Year won along with two podium finishes and a 3-time All-Star Rider. Clayton Feldman who competed for the Cutters starting in 2008 and was 3 Time Champion from 2008-10, 2 Time All Star Rider and finished fifth in Fall Individual Time Trials in 2007. Established in 1970 47 have been Inducted have been inducted into the Little 500 Hall of Fame and adding four more will bring the total to 51 inductees.
There is all the pageantry before the race that makes this event special. The Introduction of the 33 Teams, The Grand Marshals for the Women’s Race will be Indiana University Football Players Charlie Becker, Carter Smith and Kaiden Turner. 2013 Indianapolis 500 Champion Tony Kannan will be the Grand Marshall for the Men’s Race in which they will give the command to mount their bicycles and of course the signing of “Back Home Again in Indiana” and on the pace laps the signing of the Indiana University Fight Song “Indiana Our Indiana and then the race begins and it is battle to get to the finish line first in front of big crowd of 25,000 to lift the trophy and be called a Little 500 Champion for the rest of time.