{"id":22200,"date":"2022-05-23T21:24:12","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T21:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=22200"},"modified":"2022-05-23T21:24:15","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T21:24:15","slug":"sius-flying-salukis-finish-nationally-in-top-5-for-13th-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/illinois\/sius-flying-salukis-finish-nationally-in-top-5-for-13th-year\/%20","title":{"rendered":"SIU\u2019s Flying Salukis Finish Nationally in Top 5 for 13th Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Pete Rosenbery<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Southern Illinois University Carbondale Flying Salukis continued to be a consistent power in collegiate aviation with a fifth-place finish at the recent National Intercollegiate Flying Association championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coach Nathan J. Lincoln, a senior lecturer in aviation management and flight in the School of Aviation<\/a>, was pleased with the performance and optimistic about the team\u2019s future. The team tied for fifth with the U.S. Air Force Academy in the May 9-14 competition. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Prescott won the title in the 28-team event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am so happy with the performance of our very junior team\nduring the week,\u201d said Lincoln, noting that only one or two students on the\n15-member team had prior national competition experience. The 2020 event was\ncanceled due to the COVID 19-pandemic and the 2021 event was held virtually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe ability to stay in the top 5 for 13 years is an awesome\naccomplishment,\u201d Lincoln said. \u201cWe have an amazing flight program and talented\nflight team members here at SIU. This just shows the strength of our program\nwhen compared to other collegiate aviation programs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strong foundation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lincoln was particularly pleased the Flying Salukis were\nthird in the judge\u2019s trophy category. The category awards points for all team\nmembers who competed regardless of whether they finished among the\ncompetition\u2019s top 20 scorers in each event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Benjamin Morris<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe third-place judges trophy shows that the quality of our\nentire team is one of the best in the country. I am looking forward to what\nthey will accomplish in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results are available on the NIFA website<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Wendy Elliott<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Wendy Elliott, a senior in aviation management from Boulder,\nColorado, was the ninth overall scoring contestant with 66 points, and was the\ntop scorer for the Flying Salukis and top female scoring pilot. Co-captain\nBenjamin Morris, a May 2022 graduate from Carbondale, was the team\u2019s second top\nscorer with 55 points and 15th overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Flying Salukis who scored points were:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Grant Gillespie, sophomore, aviation management\nand flight, Fort Worth, Texas, 35 points; tied for 33rd place.<\/li>
  • Dayne Snodgrass, junior, aviation management and\nflight, Byron, Illinois, 32 points; tied for 39th place.<\/li>
  • Thomas Edgar, senior, piano performance and\naviation flight, St. Charles, Illinois, 18 points; tied for 66th place.<\/li>
  • Sydney Reijmer, a May 2022 graduate, aviation\nmanagement and flight, Barrington, Illinois, 12 points; tied for 83rd place.<\/li>
  • Samuel Cogan, senior, aviation management and\nflight, Alton, Illinois, 11 points; tied for 85th place.<\/li>
  • Noah Ciocca, junior, aviation management and\nflight, Morton, Illinois, 11 points, tied for 85th place.<\/li>
  • Angelina Kapp, co-captain, a May 2022 graduate,\naviation technologies, aviation flight and environmental sustainability,\nWestern Springs, Illinois, 8 points, tied for 97th place.<\/li>
  • Amelia Anderson, senior, aviation management and\nflight, Johnston City, Illinois, 5 points, tied for 132nd place.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Additional Flying Salukis are:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Derrick Crider, senior, aviation flight and\neconomics, Wheaton, Illinois.<\/li>
    • Dale Miller, junior, aviation management and\nflight, Highland, Illinois.<\/li>
    • Krzysztof Skubisz, senior, economics and aviation\nflight, Hoffman Estates, Illinois.<\/li>
    • Matteus Thompson, senior, aviation technologies\nand aviation flight, Cincinnati, Ohio.<\/li>
    • Joshua Weyers, a May 2022 graduate, aviation\nmanagement and flight, Canton, Illinois.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Special visit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Among the special guests to be with the team during the May\n14 banquet was Aymee Zimmerman, the mother of Flying Saluki team member Joseph\nErmel. A sophomore in aviation technologies and aviation flight from Downers\nGrove, Illinois, Ermel died in October 2021, shortly after the squad won a 10th\nconsecutive Region VIII championship to qualify for nationals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201cIt was a heartwarming experience to be able to share the\nbanquet experience with her,\u201d Lincoln said. \u201cThe team was glad she was able to\ntravel out to be part of everyone\u2019s experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Assistant coaches, university support play key roles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Elliott and Snodgrass will be team captains next fall.\nLincoln credited assistant coaches Mike LeFevre, Matthew Santos and Gavin Voris\n\u2013 all assistant instructors in the School of Aviation and Flying Saluki alumni\n\u2013 in helping get the team ready to compete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201cWe have an amazing support structure that allows for our\ncontinued success,\u201d Lincoln said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201cWithout their help preparing a team, none of our success is\npossible. We are also thankful for the support from university leadership,\nwhich allows us to showcase our amazing program and students.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      by Pete Rosenbery The Southern Illinois University Carbondale Flying Salukis continued to be a consistent power in collegiate aviation with a fifth-place finish at the recent National Intercollegiate Flying Association championships. Coach Nathan J. Lincoln, a senior lecturer in aviation management and flight in the School of Aviation, was pleased with the performance and optimistic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-education","category-illinois"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/FlyingSalukis-sm.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22204,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22200\/revisions\/22204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}