St. Louis University Flying Billikens Advance to 2026 National Competition

By Carmelo Turdo

The St. Louis University Flying Billikens have qualified for the National Intercollegiate Flying Association (NIFA) Competition to be held May 18-23, 2026, at Quad Cities International Airport in Moline, IL. The team earned their overall fourth place along with several first and second individual scores during the recent NIFA Region VI and Region VIII competition hosted by St. Louis University on October 13-17 at St. Louis Downtown Airport. This marks the third consecutive year that the Flying Billikens have competed on the national level. 

The results of the regional competition: 

Region VI Overall

1 University of North Dakota

2 University of Nebraska (Omaha)

3 Kansas State University (Salina)

4 Saint Louis University 

5 Minnesota State University (Mankato)

6 University of Central Missouri

7 University of Dubuque

Region VIII Overall

1 Southern Illinois University (Carbondale)

2 Purdue University

3 Lewis University 

Placements by St. Louis University Flyng Billikens Team Members

Aircraft Preflight

8 Jack Ingebretsen

13 Sydney Nimerick

Aircraft Recognition

9 Daniel McGill

Computer Accuracy (E6B)

15 Sehwan Park

Ground Trainer

1 Sam Kean

5 Sehwan Park

8 Peter Belmonte

Message Drop

8 Evan August and Brendan Stoll

Power Off Landings

15 Peter Belmonte

Short Field Landings

10 Christian Brickman

Simulated Comprehensive Aircraft Navigation

10 Peter Belmonte

12 Sydney Nimerick

Traditional Navigation

1 Brendan Stoll and Jack Ingebretsen

2 Finn Ceyssens and Peter Belmonte

3 Sydney Nimerick and Sam Kean

Top scoring contestant out of 81 contestants

11 Sydney Nimerick

12 Brendan Stoll   

13 Finn Ceyssens

The Aero Experience was on site for the regional competition flying events October 16-17, and we will have additional coverage of the action in future posts. Here is a preview of several teams competing in the power off landing and message drop events at St. Louis Downtown Airport.