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Yes. They equalize the start times by adding time onto the 24. So the first musher to leave gets plenty of time added on and someone like Paige that started out near the back will have less time added to their 24.

Friday morning March 7 ~8:10 AM.

Jessie Holmes pulled into Kaltag with 14 dogs at 12:42 AM local time/4:21 AM east coast and declared his 24 hours there. Nic Petit is on the trail to Kaltag as well. Others are in Nulato checkpoint of further back.

Leader board is:

1. Jessie Holmes resting in Kaltag, 456 miles in/672 to Nome. Came in with 14 dogs
2. Nic Petit running with 15 dogs 424 miles in/704 miles to Nome
3-5 resting in Nulato (likely doing their 24s) 420 miles in/708 miles to Nome including:
3. Michelle Phillips
4. Mitch Seavey
5. Travis Beals
6. Emily Ford running 13 dogs 377 miles in/751 miles to Nome - far-and-away the fastest rookie team
7-15 all resting in Galena, 369 miles in/759 to Nome (most probably doing their 24s) including:
7. Paige Drobny
8. Matt Hall
9. Ryan Redington
10. Millie Porsild

In the red lantern is rookie Mike Parker running 12 dogs 279 miles in/849 to Nome

He was from Stone Mountain, GA (right outside of Atlanta), IIRC.

ESPN's Bracketology now has us as the last team in, and Minnesota as the first team out. Also, a potential matchup with Kentucky in the round of 32. Soup called it.

I went back and looked at the GPS rewind and did not see Jessie doing that. Jason Mackey and Bailey Vitello both did that early on. But it is a little hard to see as a lot of the time the teams were bunched together and hard to see one icon from another.

I expect parking at NCAAs to be a cluster. The Shamrock marathon festivities are that weekend. While the marathon/half are on Sunday, with packet pickup and other stuff Friday and Saturday at the convention center next door, it's going to be a mess.

Fun fact — the Kayla Blackshear on GT's team is the younger sister of Kerry Blackshear.

The NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships will be held at the Virginia Beach Sports Center Friday, March 14 and Saturday, March 15. The top 16 athletes in the country qualify in each event, although the next lower seeds move into qualifying if some higher seeds choose not to compete in an event. The top 8 finishers score points toward the team title (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for 1st through 8th), and are considered 1st-Team All-Americans. Here are the Hokies who will be competing:

Men

400m - Judson Lincoln IV - 6th seed (there's no clear favorite, and JLIV could actually win this)

3000m - George Couttie - 15th seed (Ethan Strand and Parker Wolfe from UNC are the favorites)

4x400m Relay - Virginia Tech is the 7th seed (but just 2.22 seconds behind #1 seed Texas A&M)
The team will likely be Tomas Kersulis, Kahleje Tillmon, Ali Diaby and Judson Lincoln IV if everyone is healthy.

Distance Medley Relay - Virginia Tech is the 8th seed

Pole Vault - Maddox Hamm - 14th seed (no realistic chance of winning, but could finish top 8)

Heptathlon - Nathaniel Harris - 7th seed

Note that Judson Lincoln would have been the 9th seed in the 200m dash, but he scratched out, most likely to focus on the 400m and 4x400 relay. Doing the 200/400 double plus the relay would have been tough.

Women

800m - Star Price - 8th seed (it's pretty tightly packed from 1 to 16, so anything is possible for Price)

Pole Vault - Julia Fixsen - 6th seed (former champion, but Amanda and Hana Moll from Washington are huge favorites - they are ranked #1 and #4 in the world right now)

Weight Throw - Sara Killinen - 7th seed

If Whit isn't now actively looking for a landing spot AS SOON as it opens, then he's not doing his job.

Conference affiliation is a president decision, not an AD decision. This is Sands's job.

I was looking at the official 2025 Iditarod Race Rules a bit ago. Rule 13 describes the Mandatory Stops:

Rule 13 -- Mandatory Stops: A musher must personally sign in and out to start and complete all mandatory stops.

Twenty Four-Hour Stop: A musher must take one mandatory twenty-four (24) hour stop at an official checkpoint during the race. The starting differential will be adjusted during each team's twenty- four (24) hour stop. It is the musher's responsibility to remain for the entire twenty-four hour period plus starting differential. The ITC will give each musher the required time information prior to leaving the starting line.

Eight Hour Mandatory Stops: In addition to the mandatory twenty-four (24) hour stop, a musher must take one eight (8) hour stop on the Yukon River, including Shageluk in odd numbered years, and one eight (8) hour stop at White Mountain.

None of the mandatory stops may be combined.

Maybe because it started in Fairbanks this year, but this years' rules state that one of the 8-hour stops is on the Yukon River, and the other at White Mountain. So this could be Paige's 8-hour stop. We'll see in about an hour or so, if she leaves Galena.

Yes, I would think she is taking her 24. It says she checked in at 6:37 AM local time/10:37 AM east coast. Almost 7 hours there at the checkpoint. She is too early in the course to be able to take the first 8-hour break as that has to be on the Kaltag-to-Kaltag loop to the south. And if she is still at Galena it means that she is on her 24 or there is a problem with the team.