Bethel Maintains Lead; Murray State Moves Into Fourth In College Bass Fishing

 
Bethel University maintains its lead and Murray State University ranks fourth in the Cabela’s School of the Year bass series. The University of North Alabama moves into second and moving into the top three is the fishing powerhouse of Auburn University.
With two FLW events and an ACA event in the last ten days, Bethel University has had an impressive run – even taking first overall at the Cabela’s Collegiate Big Bass Bash presented by Berkley this past weekend – solidifying their number 1 ranking.
Bethel had to overcome being penalized during the official practice period of the Cabela’s Collegiate Big Bass Bash to maintain their lead.   The penalty. imposed by the Association of Collegiate Anglers, was due to a violation of a rule where a Bethel team coach was on the water testing a boat during practice.  This infraction of the rules and subsequent penalty resulted in the Bethel anglers in question not being allowed to fish the event at all, as well as the entire Bethel team sitting out the second day of competition, thus allowing them only one day to compete.
After finishing fourth in last year’s rankings, Bethel changed their strategy in an effort to win the title of 2018 Cabela’s School of the Year. The Bethel Bass team has competed in eleven qualifying events to-date, giving them a solid lead over past Cabela’s School of the Year champions, University of North Alabama. Not only has Bethel been fishing every event possible, it is noteworthy to add that they have also been fishing well. They have finished in the Top 5 in nine of the eleven events fished this season.
Currently sitting in second is two-time Cabela’s School of the Year champions, University of North Alabama. Since the new year rang in, UNA has fished seven events with four Top 5 finishes. UNA has hit the ground running in 2018 and shows no signs of slowing down. With 603 points separating them from Bethel University, UNA will be looking to collect all the points possible between now and May, including the season ending BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship presented by Cabela’s on their home lake.   UNA is one of the premier college fishing programs in the nation and their on the water results are showing that.
 
 
Current Cabela’s School of the Year Top 10 teams are as follows:

1. Bethel University (McKenzie, TN)
2. University of North Alabama (Florence, AL)*2014 & 2015 Cabela’s SOY Winner
3. Auburn University (Auburn, AL)
4. Murray State University (Murray, KY)
5. Adrian College (Adrian, MI)
6. McKendree University (Lebanon, IL)
7. Bryan College (Dayton, TN)*2017 Cabela’s SOY Winner
8. University of Tennessee (Knoxville, TN)
9. University of Louisiana – Monroe (Monroe, LA)*2013 Cabela’s SOY Winner

1. Mississippi State (Starkville, MS)