MCKENZIE, Tenn. – Bethel University is the first past winner of the Bass Pro Shops School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia to appear in this feature series highlighting the Top 25 teams in the 2022-23 race. Located in McKenzie, near Kentucky Lake, Bethel University amassed 30,310 points to finish the year ranked 13th.
“It means everything to the entire team any time we can end the season with a Top 20 finish in the ACA SOY standings, especially as the skill level of competition grows and the number of teams competing increases,” according to Niko Romero, Bethel University angler.
Bethel University has a storied history as one of the top programs in all of collegiate bass fishing. Since the inception of the Bass Pro Shops School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia, Bethel University has consistently finished the season in the Top 25, often times being comfortably inside of the Top 10. Bethel’s consistency speaks to the quality talent that has been recruited to be a part of the team.
“After recently graduating a large group of talented anglers last season like Kyle Palmer, Tristen McCormick, Brad Ableman, Joe McClosky and Ryan Winchester among others, this year we relied heavily on the leadership of our senior team Matthew Cummings and Levi Mullins, junior team Hunter Fillmore and Dylan Fogarty, as well as the rest of our stout group of upperclassmen,” added Romero. “Our 2022-23 team as a whole was very young. In his effort to reload and bring in new talent, Coach Mason added many promising underclassmen anglers who knew they had some big shoes to fill, and they really stepped up.”
Bethel University started the 2022-23 season on the Bass Pro Shops Collegiate Bass Fishing Series with a bang. Two Bethel University anglers finished in the Top 5 at the Bass Pro Shops Big Bass Bash presented by Berkley. Levi Mullins finished in 3rd, and Gage Sherrod took 5th. Those two Top 5 finishes earned Bethel University a total of 3,440 points at Kentucky Lake.