The skies are calling once again, and Kent State University’s Flying Flashes are answering, this time with their sights set on a fourth consecutive intercollegiate victory in the Air Race Classic.
Two teams from Kent State’s College of Aeronautics and Engineering are competing in the 2025 race, which runs June 17 to 20 from Fairhope, Alabama, to Spokane, Washington. The 2,426-mile, daylight-only event challenges racers to navigate a timed course through a series of designated checkpoints across the country, including mountainous terrain that many of the pilots will have limited experience.
Flying Flashes Navy (Race #52) includes pilot Kendal Schulte, a rising senior from Bath Township, Ohio, and 2024 graduate Alyssa Sheehan of Lockport, Illinois. Flying Flashes Gold (Race #53) features Esther Kotyk, a senior from Uniontown, Ohio, and Kelsey Buyansky of Independence, Ohio, a recent graduate. Each team pairs a first-time pilot with a returning racer in the right seat, continuing a mentor-mentee structure that has helped propel Kent State to repeated success.
Kent State won the overall race in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, the Air Race Classic introduced an intercollegiate division specifically for university teams. With the new structure, the collegiate category became the highest level eligible for student competitors, and one of Kent State’s teams took first place in that class.
Before departing for this year’s race, the teams were visited at the Kent State University Airport by Ohio Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel. He spoke with each team, asked about the competition, and expressed admiration for the students’ career goals, which included hopes of flying commercially for airlines such as United.
Schulte said her team’s priority is safety as they prepare to cross unfamiliar terrain.
“Our priority is to finish safely,” she said. “We’ll be flying over mountain ranges we haven’t seen before, and that adds a new level of challenge to how we prepare and plan.”
Sheehan, who flew in the race for the first time last year, is now serving as a mentor to her teammate.
"Last year, I was the one asking all the questions and learning from my copilot,” Sheehan said. “It feels really rewarding to come back this year and be in a position to support someone else through the experience. You grow a lot in a short time, and it’s exciting to help someone else do the same.”
Flying Cessna Skyhawk 172S aircraft, the teams will rely on weather awareness, fuel management and strategic decision-making as they make their way to Spokane. Crews must land before sunset each day and may complete the course in as little as one day or as many as four.
Live race tracking is available at airraceclassic2025.maprogress.com. Full event details and a race schedule are available at airraceclassic.org.