The Bethel Bass Team of Cully Scroggins and Nathan Portch took third place honors in the Bassmasters Eastern Regional College Tournament, Saturday, in Jefferson City.
With their performance, Scroggins and Portch become the eighth Bethel Bass team to qualify for the prestigious Bassmasters National Championship, which will be held in Oklahoma in July.
With a five-fish limit, the 17-pounds, 11-ounces Scroggins and Portch weighed in on day one of the three-day event would not be surpassed.
The Wildcats also set two records in collegiate fishing sports during the tournament.
The record previously was set by the Wildcats in 2017 at six boats from one school and broke earlier in the year by the Wildcats when the seventh boat from Bethel punched their ticket to the championship in the Southern Regional in Florence, Alabama.
The Bass Cats also finished with five teams in the top 12, which set the record for the most teams in the top 12 of any major championship from one school or university.
Top finishers for the Wildcats were as follows –
Third – Cully Scroggins/Nathon Portch, 41-pounds, two-ounces
Fifth – KJ Queen/Brad Ableman, 39-pounds, 15-ounces
Ninth – Brian Pahl/John Garrett, 39-pounds, two-ounces
Tenth – Hunter Louden/Seth Roberts, 38-pounds, seven-ounces
Eleventh – Cole Floyd/Carter McNeil, 38-pounds, six-ounces
The Bethel Team of Cody Huff and Garrett Enders placed 16th overall.
Bethel’s Brian Pahl and John Garrett also moved into the lead in Team of the Year points for the Wildcats in Bassmasters college tournament play for the year.
“We have had an amazing year,” Garry Mason, Bethel’s head coach, said. “These guys have gotten better with each tournament and to have five teams in the top 12 in a major Bass tournament is beyond imagination.
“These guys are fishing against the best collegiate Anglers in the nation and have proven that Bethel can compete at the highest level of the sport. We are so proud of this amazing group of Bethel Student Anglers.”
(PHOTO:Â Nathan Portch, left, and Cully Scroggins, Bethel University – courtesy Bethel University Sports Information Department)
