The Western Illinois University team of Hunter Litchfield of Macomb, Illinois, and Hunter Imhof of Wilmington, Illinois, won the Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI at the Ohio River event Friday with a five-bass limit weighing 7 pounds, 14 ounces. The victory earned the Western Illinois bass club $2,000 and qualified them to compete in the 2021 College Fishing National Championship.
The Leathernecks duo won by an 8-ounce margin over the second-place team of Luke Ripple and Blake Albertson from Murray State University, who weighed in four bass totaling 7 pounds, 6 ounces. The tournament launched from the Ohio River Ramp in Paducah, Kentucky.
The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2021 College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: Western Illinois University – Hunter Litchfield, Macomb, Ill., and Hunter Imhof, Wilmington, Ill., five bass, 7-14, $2,000
2nd: Murray State University – Luke Ripple, Murray, Ky., and Blake Albertson, Bloomington, Ind., four bass, 7-6, $1,000
3rd: Eastern Kentucky University – Chris LeMaster, Argillite, Ky., and Chase Terry, Whitley City, Ky., three bass, 6-14, $500
4th: University of Illinois – Robbie Schmidt, Tolono, Ill., and Tyson Stork, Strawn, Ill., four bass, 6-5, $500
5th: University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point – Neal Wisinski, Stevens Point, Wis., and Jesse Pliska of Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., four bass, 6-5, $500
6th: University of Central Missouri – Tyler Bartlett, Lees Summit, Mo., and Tad Deatherage, Concordia, Mo., five bass, 5-9
7th: McKendree University – Parker Domschke, Bolingbrook, Ill., and Ethan Jones, Sparta, Wis., three bass, 5-8
8th: Murray State University – Zachary Martin, Murray, Ky, and Harbor Lovin, Fayetteville, Ohio, three bass, 5-4
9th: Murray State University – Dalton Kelly, Keenes, Ill., and Jacob Autry, Beaver Dam, Ky., three bass, 4-9
10th: Western Illinois University – Brandon Briscoe, McHenry, Ill., and John Ott Jr., Lindenhurst, Ill., three bass, 4-6
Complete results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.
The Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI event on the Ohio River was the third and final regular-season qualifying tournament for Central Conference anglers. The next event for College Fishing anglers will be this week, Sept. 16 – the Abu Garcia College Fishing OPEN presented by YETI event at Kentucky and Barkley lakes in Gilbertsville, Kentucky.
Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI teams compete in regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top ten teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual Abu Garcia College Fishing Open advance to the following year’s Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI National Championship.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
About FLWFLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, FLW and its partners conduct more than 290 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Namibia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and Zimbabwe.
FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show while Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. Acquired by Major League Fishing in late 2019, FLW is expanding its programming in 2020 to the Outdoor Channel and the Sportsman Channel as well as on-demand at MyOutdoorTV
By: Joe Opager, Director of Public Relations
