When the sun begins to rise and the clock strikes 6 a.m., many students are fast asleep. But the Ohio State Flight Team is at the OSU airport preparing for their upcoming national competition.Rachal Anderson, assistant coach, said the 15 team members will be competing in nine different events for the national title at the University of Kansas in Salina from May 4 to May 9.The team practices at 6 a.m. every Monday through Thursday, all day Saturday, Sunday afternoons and three nights per week on their own, Anderson said.”They put in a good 40 hours a week practicing,” Anderson said. “All the members have full-time status and some of them also have jobs.”Anderson said there are five ground events and four flight events, and students usually specialize in one of them. Scott Van Ooyen, head coach, decides which team members will compete at the national competition, she said.Heather Ducimo, a fifth-year senior, said there is a more cohesive feeling after the team has been chosen for nationals, and that it is hard to do things together that are not flight team related.”I am nervous and excited, but I feel that we can take home the title this year,” Ducimo said.OSU usually places in the top five at nationals, but they should place in the top three this year, Anderson said. Although OSU has never won a national title before, it has placed second four times.”We have put in a lot of practice, and we will try our best and see what happens,” said John Marchildon, a sophomore and co-captain. “This is my last competition, so I just want to try to do the best that I can.”Tim Cross, a freshman, said he has spent time observing his veteran teammates to prepare for his first national competition.”I don’t really know what to expect,” Cross said. “I know I’m going to be nervous, but I just want to do well.”Anderson and team members said their toughest competitors are Western Michigan University, the University of North Dakota, Embry Riddle Daytona Beach, Florida and Embry Riddle Prescott, Arizona.”We have a good, solid team that works well together,” Anderson said. “This is an intense competition that becomes progressively more difficult each year as the competitors get better.”Anderson said the flight team pays their own way to go to nationals, which ranges from $17,000 to $20,000. They do their own fund raising to help with the cost.This year, the team has raised about $15,000 from washing airplanes and from the OSU airport and aviation department, which matched some of the money they raised.