Americana Outdoors E-Magazine - June 2021

Montevallo Claims Bass Pro Shops Collegiate School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia

The 2020-21 season out on the Bass Pro Shops Collegiate Bass Fishing Series came to a historic end last week at Lake Murray in South Carolina. Following the conclusion of weigh-in at Dreher Island State Park last Thursday points totals were calculated, and the standings finalized for this season’s Bass Pro Shops School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia. The final standings revealed several shakeups to be one of the most dramatic reveals of the season as one new team leapt up into the Top 3 and Montevallo’s lead over 2nd place shrank to its slimmest margin in the past several months. When it was all said and done, Montevallo did just enough at Lake Murray to claim the school’s first-ever title as Bass Pro Shops School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia. Back-

to-back defending winners McKendree University closed the margin to less than 300 points to finish the season in 2nd, and Adrian College leap-frogged Murray State to earn 3rd place honors. “It was very exciting to see all the hard work finally pay off. This is my 6th season at Montevallo and each year I felt that we were getting closer and closer of reaching that top spot in collegiate bass fishing,” said William Crawford, Head Fishing Coachat theUniversity ofMontevallo. “Being this is the first-ever title for the program or the University there has been a lot of excitement around our campus, community, state and even in the fishing community. I am amazed at the amount of support we have received since winning the title.”