From left to righ: Sophomore Morgan Weller of Alpha Phi is greeted by
junior Heather O'Brien and senior Katherine Funke.
SAM CARAVANA / THE DEPAUW
The cyclists might have crossed the finish line, and the weekend's soirees might have ended, but DePauw University is still talking about the exciting weekend.
DePauw’s annual Little 5 kicked off with street sprints beginning promptly at 5 p.m. on Friday.
Alpha Phi and Delta Upsilon swept the competition winning the top two spots in the women’s street sprint competition, and the top three spots in the men’s street sprint competition.
Despite minor announcing hiccups during street springs, seniors Laura Guild and Jordan Bantista, co-chairs of the Little 5 steering committee, believe this was a successful weekend.
During street sprints not only did several riders clip out of their shoes, but there was a minor issue regarding a miscommunication about how to read the brackets. This misunderstanding occurred because the brackets at the start and finish had two pairs of racers switched.
“Once Laura and I met in the middle, we fixed the problem and tried to speed the races up,” Bantista said.
Bantista and Guild began planning Little 5 in February and this was their second year as co-chairs of the steering committee, which ultimately consisted of 20 student volunteers.
Sophomore and member of this year’s steering committee Elizabeth Seewer praised Bantista and Guild for their hard work.
“The steering committee definitely contributed a lot of our time and effort into this whole week, but I give major props to Jordan Bantista and Laura Guild for all of their hard work and dedication they put into this week,” Seewer said.
Seewer said she had a lot of fun working on the committee and believed the weekend was an overall success.
“The weather was absolutely gorgeous and nothing major went wrong—it was good to see the community aspect when it came to who won. Everyone was supportive of all of the riders which was comforting to see,” Seewer said.
Following the Saturday morning Alumni race, Alpha Phi and Delta Upsilon again dominated the criterium races both having riders finish in the top three.
First place rider in the women’s race, Morgan Weller, was excited about her team’s success.
“I couldn't be prouder to be a part of A Phi's team this year,” Weller said. “All seven of us contributed to our overall win in some way.”
Weller said she began her training at the beginning of the year but Alpha Phi’s entire team began training at the beginning of the semester.
“There were so many days when we would meet out back, complaining about how none of us wanted to ride. But every single time, we would still go and we would push ourselves as hard as we could,” Weller said.
Like Alpha Phi, according to senior rider Alex Hankins, Delta Upsilon put a lot of time and effort into their training practices and have also been training all year.
“With all of the work we had put in before and all of the cycling events we do outside of DePauw we didn’t see why we couldn't take first, second, third and fourth,” Hankins said.
Hankins still can’t believe Delta Upsilon not only took first through fourth place but also won Little 5 over all.
“It was kind of surreal I don’t think it has still set in,” Hankins said. "Of course DU has done well in the past and we don’t want to let them down.”
Not only were the riders happy about their success but Bantista was pleased with how the weekend turned out.
“We were glad to see how many students, residents of Greencastle and other visitors came out to watch our awesome riders,” Bantista said.
Director of Public Safety, Angela Nally, concurred with Bansista and was satisfied after the weekend had ended.
“I felt the atmosphere at the Little 5 race was appropriate, and it appeared that most people were having a good time with few highly intoxicated individuals,” Nally said
This year, DePauw had two students and two visitors go to the hospital as opposed to the three students and two visitors that went to the hospital in 2014 for excessive alcohol consumption.
“The majority of fraternities were prepared and responsive when issues were brought to their attention,” Nally said.
“I encourage anyone who wants to ride a bike whether you want to race in Little 5 or not, it is a great time and a great experience,” Hankins said in reference to the weekend. “There is more to riding a bike than racing, it is a lot a fun, and a great way to get fit.”
- Brock Turner contributed to this article