Muleskinner

Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Drew Woolery: Muleskinner The UCM flight team is working to prepare for the National Intercollegiate Flying Association's tournament May 4-10. Top row, from left: Michael Collins, senior; Eric Meyer, senior; Stephen Araniecke, sophomore; Allie Engel, junior; Brett Largent, senior; Cody Martin, senior; Chris Schrodt, coach. Bottom row, from left: Aaron Walker, junior; Shane Soligo, senior. [Click to enlarge]

The University of Central Missouri's flight team is preparing to continue its success in the rapidly approaching national tournament.

Last fall, the UCM flight team finished in first place at the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) regional tournament in St. Louis. NIFA will host the national tournament May 4-10 at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn., where UCM hopes to compete with the best in the nation.

Senior aviation major Michael Collins said teams like the Air Force Academy and the University of North Dakota will be competing.

"Air Force and North Dakota are like the Yale and Harvard of flying," he said.

Collins said UCM expected to win at the regional tournament, but when it comes to nationals, they realize it is a "different world."

"We know how hard it is at nationals, and we want to compete and win. But a lot of what we take from nationals is the experience of meeting people who are at our level; learning from the best of the best," he said.

In the regional tournament, Collins said the weather was bad for flying, but they were able to beat other teams from their midwest region like the University of Missouri, the University of Kansas and the University of Oklahoma.

The regional tournament, like the national tournament, has competitions both in the air and on the ground. The flight team finished first in the ground events and took the overall championship.

Continued...

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