The Little 5 Street Sprints took place on Friday, April 18, where students gathered on Anderson Street to watch their friends and teammates compete in sprint-distance races in an exciting one-on-one showdown.
The event was seeded and determined by prior races in a time trial that took place on Wednesday, where the top sixteen riders were placed into a bracket and raced their opposing seed in a single elimination flash race. Compared to recent data, the time trials for the event were especially quick, which supplied a competitive event for the racers.
On the men’s side, riders from Sigma Chi, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Delta Theta, Delta Upsilon, Delta Tau Delta and the “cutters” qualified and were represented. Riders from each of the Panhellenic council chapters were represented in the women’s races, with each organization getting a maximum of four riders for each team.
The Women’s races had high representation from each organization, but by the final four, only two teams had representatives left. 2023 Street Sprint champion Elle Lewis ‘26 and Lynna Hendershot ‘25 emerged for Alpha Phi, while Caroline Condra ‘25 and Eva Lynch ’27 from Kappa Alpha Theta finished off the final four. Because of the seeding matchups, the final four ended with an Alpha Phi vs. Theta matchup on both sides of the bracket. Lewis defeated Condra while Lynch advanced over Hendershot, once again ending in an Alpha Phi vs. Theta race for both Gold and Bronze.
The final four riders on the men’s side each came from different organizations: Nick Pease ‘25 from Sigma Chi, Sam Cummins ‘25 from Phi Delta Theta, Declan Fink ‘28 from Beta Theta Pi and Jackson Corbett ‘25 from Delta Tau Delta. Notably, Pease finished as the top rider in the time trials, and Corbett had two underdog victories from his climb as the fourteenth seed. Fink then topped Corbett, and Cummins defeated Pease in the semifinal round to set the stage for both the Bronze Medal and Gold Medal Races.
The Medal Races then switched to best of three. On the women’s side, both races were decided in only two sprints, as Lewis claimed gold once again to repeat as Street Sprint champion over Lynch, while Condra took home the bronze medal over Hendershot. The men’s bronze was taken by Pease, who won both of his bronze races over Corbett.
The men’s gold medal was ultra-competitive. Cummins took the first sprint in a close matchup from holding his lead and not letting go. Fink took the victory in the second sprint, setting up for the medal race for both competitors. In the end, Fink was able to win in a close final sprint, bringing him the gold.
The street sprint and time trial results gave Greek teams points in the overall Little 5 competition, along with a placement advantage in the criterium race.
