Ohio University's flight team, the "Flying Bobcats," placed twelfth in the National Intercollegiate Flying Association's (NIFA) Safety and Flight Evaluation Conference (SAFECON) hosted by the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D., May 17-22. Only the top three schools in each of the eleven NIFA Regions qualify to attend the National Competition. This is the second year in a row that the team has qualified to attend nationals.
More than 120 individual competitors in 27 teams from around the country participated this year. The Flying Bobcats placed ahead of schools such as Oklahoma State University, Kansas State University and the U.S. Naval Academy. Notable individual rankings include Rob McCoy's 11th place in SCAN, George Armann's 16th place in Power Off Landing, David Fankhouser and Rob McCoy's 11th place in CRM, Paige Schroeder's 14th place in Preflight, and Kurt Schoenhals' 14th place in the Simulator event. Katie Ventresco was voted Outstanding Team Member.
This year's team was led by head coach Kate Pressel and faculty advisor Deak Arch with the help of assistant coaches Kristin Shoemaker, Ben Klein and Jason Forshey. The fourteen members who participated in the National Competition included: George Armann, Brian Buescher, David Fankhauser, Johann Gebauer, Susie Grundler, Sarah Hamann, Marcello Lima, Rob McCoy, Angela Myers, Shannon Pereira, Paige Schroeder, Karrie Shank, Kurt Schoenhals and Katie Ventresco.
