Bass Fishing Places 2nd
Campbellsville, KY - The Battle in the Bluegrass was hosted by Campbellsville University under The Collegiate Bass Fishing Series. It had nearly 40 teams of boats with two individuals (gender doesn't matter) per boat from schools within the state of Kentucky … some of the attending schools were the University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Western Kentucky University, Georgetown College, and Morehead State University The top two boats from each individual school combined their total weight together to be placed into the standings. There is a five fish limit to be used for scoring purposes per boat.
This was Kentucky Christian University's first competition and entry into the world of College Bass Fishing. College bass fishing is a competitive, team sport and there are over 700 colleges that have teams across the United States and numbers are growing fast. College bass fishing consists of mostly club teams, but there are a select few varsity bass fishing programs. Currently, no national athletic organization sponsors bass fishing as a championship sport, which allows teams to use sponsorships to their advantage as well as keeping their winnings. The major college bass fishing tournament series are the FLW Outdoors College Series, BASSMASTER College Bass Fishing Series, and The Collegiate Bass Fishing Series (Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's, and Boat US series).
KCU is a true Bass Fishing Varsity Team. Head Coach Brian Slone explains, "It has been my philosophy from the get go that we are a "team" and we compete at a "team". I've emphasized this with everyone I've recruited and signed. We share information amongst ourselves and learn from each other to help educate everyone."
Kentucky Christian University teams consisted of the following:
Boat # 7: Lafe Messer & Noah Hurford
Boat #10: Talbott Taylor & Justin Fairchild
Boat #23: Hunter Jones & Jonathan Fraley
Boat #25: Cameron Jenkins & Kennedi Meredith
Boat #29: Cameron Chitwood & Gunner Whitaker
The BassKnights weighed in early with a great bag from team #23 Hunter Jones and Jonathan Fraley with a four fish total weight of 8.78 pounds. Our next largest bag was from team #10 Talbott Taylor and Justin Fairchild which carried a five fish total of 7.84 pounds. With the combined weight of 16.62 pounds KCU had set the bar for most of the day only to be edged out by Campbellsville University at the end.
After placing 2nd in the whole state of Kentucky, which is an amazing achievement considering it was Kentucky Christian's inaugural tournament, Coach Slone commented, "I am very proud of their accomplishments and what they have achieved to begin their entry in the college ranks of bass fishing. I had set some lofty goals and they met and exceeded those goals, but we still need to make improvements for the next competition at Tolendo Bend in January."
Toledo Bend will be more national in scope as colleges/universities of all sizes will be in the competition. Some of the traditional entrants are Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Georgia, Bethel, and then the same Kentucky schools mentioned above. Although KCU will be stepping up in competition, the BassKnights are making their names known early.
@GoKnightsBASS