Little 500 this weekend at Bill Armstrong Stadium
After two years the Little 500 Bike race is back to its traditional format with the Women’s Race scheduled for 4 pm this afternoon and the men’s race scheduled for 2 pm tomorrow afternoon at Bill Armstrong stadium on the Indiana University Campus. The Race was canceled in 2020 and held without fans in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both races are streamed live at broadcast.indiana.edu
The Little 500 is the largest collegiate bike race in the United States. Modeled after the Indianapolis 500, riders compete in four person teams around a quarter mile track at Bill Armstrong Stadium. The Men’s race is 200 Laps-50 Miles and the Women’s race is 100 laps-25 miles. A complete field of 33 teams is expected to compete in both races. The Men’s Race started in 1951 and the Women’s Race in 1998.
Proceeds from the Little 500 races have contributed more than $2 Million in student scholarships since the event began back in 1951. One dollar from each student ticket will help fight food insecurity on the IU Bloomington Campus. IU Student foundation members are raising awareness about food insecurity resources available to students including the Crimson Cupboard. The Students Helping Students Campaign is also supporting a meal point donation program.
Bloomington Speedway kicks off the 2022 season
The Bloomington Speedway will kick off the 2022 season with season opener this evening after last Friday was rained out. Sprints, Modifieds, Super Stocks, Modlites, and Hornets will be racing. Pits open at 4 pm, Gates at 5pm. Hot Laps at 6:30 and Racing at 7:30 pm. The Speedway opened in 1923 and is the Midwest’s fastest ¼ dirt oval.
Pit Admission is $35/ 10 & under $15. General Admission $20/10 & under free with proof of age. The Payout for the tonight’s races is as follows Sprints $1,500.00 to win and $220.00 to start, Super Stocks $500.00 to win and $105.00 to start, Modifieds $700.00 to win and $105.00 to start, Hornets (non-vtech) $200.00 to win and $50.00 to start Plus Modlites. For more information visit www.racebloomingtonspeedway.com
Indiana University Men’s Basketball signee CJ Gunn competes in All-Star Game
Lawrence North Senior and Indiana University Men’s Basketball freshman to be CJ Gunn will play for team Indiana in the Prep Ball Stars Midwest Challenge tomorrow at Pike High School on the Northwest Side of Indianapolis. Joining Gunn on Team Indiana are Cathedral’s Tayshawn Comer and Jaxon Edwards, Mt. Vernon’s Amhad Jarrard, Pike’s Ryan Conwell, Chesterton’s Travis Grayson and Carmel’s Peter Suder. Others on the roster are former North Central guard Leland Walker, who attended Hargrave Military Academy his senior year, Carmel’s Charlie Williams, Anderson’s Sean Paige, Tech’s Antonio Lisenbee and Reggie Bass and Brownsburg’s Shon Tupuola.
This is the fourth year of event, which started in 2018. Teams from Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois will participate. Team Michigan will play Team Wisconsin at 10 a.m., followed by Team Indiana vs. Team Illinois at noon. The consolation game will be played at 3:30 p.m., followed by the championship at 5:30 p.m. Between sessions, at 2 p.m., will be an unsigned senior’s game.
Admission is $12 for the day for presale tickets and $15 at the door. This year’s event will be broadcast by ISC Sports Network on pay-per-view. It is $14.99 for a day pass and $9.99 per game. The unsigned senior game will be broadcast for free.
Some of the highlighted players on the out-of-state teams are Team Wisconsin’s Max Nelson, who is signed with Valparaiso, Amari Jedkins-Wisconsin-Green Bay and Leon Bond-Virginia, Michigan’s Mr. Basketball Chansey Willis-undecided and Team Illinois’ Nick Martinelli-Elon and Kyle Thomas-Eastern Illinois.
Former Indiana MBB Player Rob Phinisee transfers to Cincinnati
Former Indiana University Men’s Basketball Player Rob Phinisee has announced he is transferring to the University of Cincinnati for his final season. The 6-foot-1 Phinisee announced in late March he was leaving the IU program and would play out his final season elsewhere. The Lafayette Indiana Native was one of IU’s best perimeter defenders but struggled with offensive efficiency throughout his career in Bloomington. He averaged 4.5 points per game in 2021-22 while shooting 31.2 percent from the field, in 18.3 minutes per contest.
The arrival of Xavier Johnson last summer forced Phinisee into a reserve role as a senior, but he delivered the season’s most iconic moment – a game-winning 3-pointer against Purdue. That was part of a career-best 20-point effort. Whenever he was on the floor, Phinisee helped form some of IU’s best defensive units. Phinisee delivered another memorable moment as a freshman when he made a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer to defeat Butler in Indianapolis. But along the way he suffered a number of injuries that slowed his development, including a serious concussion during that freshman season, and a plantar fascia injury in 2021-22. For his career Phinisee appeared in 111 games and started 69 times, including 29 starts as a freshman. He arrived at IU in 2018 as part of the much-discussed class that included Romeo Langford. In total he scored 719 points (6.5 per game) and handed out 307 assists (2.8 per game). He finished his career just above a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Phinisee had narrowed his list of suitors to Butler and Cincinnati last week and will be reunited at UC with former IU assistant coach Mike Roberts, who took an assistant coach position under Bearcat’s head man Wes Miller last spring.
Indianapolis Indians Coverage
Indians Fall 12-5 To Columbus
A seven-run sixth inning, capped by a bases-clearing triple off the bat of Oscar Gonzalez, boosted the Columbus Clippers to a comeback win over the Indianapolis Indians on Thursday afternoon, 12-5. The Teams will meet tonight at 7:05pm, Tomorrow at 6:35pm and Sunday at 1:35pm to close out the six-game series at Victory Field.
Indians Record:7-7 LP: Jerad Eickhoff (1-1) Columbus Record: 11-4 WP: Eli Lingos (1-0)
For more local news . . .
Check out our archived episodes of What’s Happenin’ and Talkin’ Sports with Nick Jenkinson here