IU Kokomo places second at IU Indianapolis Regatta
Indiana University Kokomo students made a splash at the annual IU Indianapolis Regatta.
The IU KokomOdyssey team of Madison Campbell, Ty Frazier, Anna Shewalter, and Will Van Heyningen placed second of nine teams in the regional campus competition, bringing home the campus’s first-ever Regatta medal.
A second team, Cougars of the Caribbean, included Nova Brittain, Kokomo; Steven Case, Arcadia; Xen Kelly, Peru; and Erica Sylvester, Logansport. They also competed in the annual festival and scholarship fundraiser centered around a half-mile canoe relay race on the downtown Indianapolis canal.
“We like to say this year was our shot at redemption,” said Van Heyningen, recalling that last year the Cougar team flipped its canoe almost as soon as the race began.
“It was a great shot at redemption at that,” Campbell added.
They continued the Cougar tradition of dressing in costumes, which started with Van Heyningen dressing as a pirate for the 2025 Regatta.
“This year, knowing we had two teams, we wanted to do everything bigger,” he said. “The costumes just kind of sprang from there.”
The timed race, which raises scholarship money, includes four-member teams. Two begin the race, paddling a steel canoe about a quarter mile down the canal, where they disembark, the second pair jump in, and they return to the start/finish line.
Competitors had one advance practice day a week before the event and could make one run of the race route. For many of the team members, Regatta day was their first or second time in a canoe.
While they were excited for competition, students noted it’s friendly, and that the connections with other IU students are the real draw, along with the opportunity to represent the campus.
“It was a good time to get out there with people from other IU campuses,” said Shewalter, from Royal Center. “IU Kokomo is a smaller regional campus. It’s important to show up for our school and show we have a great community and great people who can go out there and compete.”
Campbell, from Logansport, agreed, adding that she’s made many friends from other IU regionals by attending events for students from all campuses. Shewalter was excited to see friends who attend IU Indianapolis during the day. Van Heyningen added that May 2026 graduate Moriah Crawford, who now attends the IU McKinney School of Law, stopped to cheer for the Cougars.
“It’s great to get to be part of the ‘One IU’ we have here, and to interact with the other campuses,” the Rochester resident said. “It’s fun to get all the regionals together and have a little healthy competition. We may have talked smack with (IU) Northwest, but we were there to make connections and have fun.”
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