University of Montevallo fishing team wins national championship

The University of Montevallo’s bass fishing team topped more than 200 collegiate fishing programs throughout the nation during the 2020-21 season to earn the distinction of the Bass Pro Shops School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia.

Throughout the year, the UM fishing team competed in many tournaments against some of the largest universities in the nation and earned points based on its performance. Following the final tournament of the season at Lake Murray in South Carolina on May 27, UM had amassed the most cumulative points of any team in the nation, taking home the team’s first School of the Year honor.

During a dominant season, the UM team, which is a part of the UM President’s Outdoor Scholars Program, took over the top ranking in the national standings in November 2020 and never relinquished its lead.

Montevallo, which finished second in last season’s School of the Year rankings, knocked off two-time defending national champion McKendree University of Lebanon, Illinois, and topped large universities such as the University of Tennessee, Auburn University and East Carolina University en route to this year’s national crown.

“I am extremely proud of what this team has accomplished. These guys have been so focused since the season started,” Outdoor Scholars Program Director and bass team campus advisor William Crawford said. “We had the goal at the beginning of the year to be the number one team in the country, and since November they have done just that.”

– Submitted by Neal Wagner.