UNC-Charlotte’s team of Joe Kinchen of Mooresville, N.C., and Tyler Teer of Charlotte, N.C., holds the lead after day one at the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Division Regional Championship on Jordan Lake with six bass weighing 15 pounds, 3 ounces. The team has a 3-pound, 8-ounce lead over the N.C. State University team of Ben Dziwulski of Woodbine, Md., and Kevin Beverley of Fuquay Varina, N.C., going into day two of competition where they are competing for a top prize of $50,000 and a shot at the National Championship.
“We had three different plans that we were going to do,” Kinchen said. “The first one we were like, ‘Let’s just scratch it.’ The other two were like, ‘Hey, this is kind of what they’re doing.’ So we ended up combining the two patterns to make the pattern that we have right now.”
The team remained tight-lipped concerning specifics of how they were fishing, but said they were confident in their technique.
“We caught fish in 10 feet of water and we caught them in 2 (feet),” said Teer. “It’s scattered. I don’t want to say right now, but hopefully it will work.
“We caught six keepers all day,” Teer added. “They just happened to be good ones.”
Rounding out the top five teams are:
| 3rd: | Christopher Newport | Ryan Ingalls, Fairfax, Va., and Joe Wilkerson, Falls Church, Va. | six bass | 11-8 |
| 4th: | N.C. State University | Jeff Bumgarner, Wade, N.C., and Will White, Raleigh, N.C. | 5 bass | 9-13 |
| 5th: | Virginia Tech | Jody White, Shaftsbury, Vt., and Carson Rejzer, Hampton, Va. | 5 bass | 9-9 |
Each school team represented in the televised regional championship have team shirts and boats provided by Ranger. The purse for each regional championship includes a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard wrapped in school colors for the winning club and $25,000 for the school they represent. Awards of $6,000 extend through fifth place for the club and school to split evenly.
Anglers will take off from Ebenezer Boat Ramp located at 2882 Beaver Creek Road in Apex, N.C., at 7 a.m. each morning. Weigh-ins will be held at N.C. State University – Carter-Finley Stadium. Friday’s weigh-in will begin at 4 p.m. and Saturday’s final weigh-in will begin at 5 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
N.C. State University will also be hosting a College Fishing Festival throughout the three-day tournament. Students and fishing fans alike will be treated to live music, the National Guard Warrior Challenge, a Ranger Boat simulator, tailgate games, a sports zone along with contests for cash and several prize give-aways. The festival will take place at N.C. State University – Carter-Finley Stadium from 2-4 p.m. Friday and 2-5 p.m. on Saturday.
The remaining qualified teams in the Northern Regional Championship include:
| Carnegie Mellon University | Paul Kimball Jr. & Ryan Buckheit |
| Chestnut Hill College | John Reading & Adrian Avena |
| Christopher Newport | Ryan Ingalls & Joe Wilkerson |
| Fairmont State University | Wil Dieffenbauch & Brent Dodrill |
| Glenville State College | Dustin Vaughan & Andrew Darby |
| Messiah College | Daniel Poli & Louis Wenger |
| N.C. State University | Ben Dziwulski & Kevin Beverley |
| N.C. State University | Jeff Bumgarner & Will White |
| Penn State | Seth Baker & Jeremy Lake |
| Radford University | Matthew Conners & Tyler Vaughn |
| Rensselaer | Jonathan Cummings & Steven Taylor |
| Rensselaer | Mike Ahrens & Tom Cooley |
| UNC-Charlotte | Joe Kinchen & Tyler Teer |
| UNC-Charlotte | Tyler Beam & Eric Self |
| Vermont Technical College | Justin Brouillard & Ben Cayer |
| Virginia Tech | Jody White & Carson Rejzer |
| Virginia Tech | Wyatt Blevins & Michael Freas |
| Wayne State University | Peter Bommarito & Andrew Smith |
| West Point | Hugh Clark & Justin Hunter |
| West Virginia University | Corey Straight & Corey Hill |
The top five teams from each regional championship, 25 teams total, will advance to the 2011 National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship that will be hosted by Murray State University on Kentucky Lake, April 7-9, 2011. The National Championship is a three-day televised event. Teams will be provided jerseys and wrapped Ranger boats towed by Chevy trucks for this competition. The first-place team will win $100,000 with $50,000 of that for their school and $25,000 cash and a Ranger 177TR bass boat for their fishing club along with a berth in the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup.
FLW Outdoors provides boats and drivers for each competing team along with travel allowances. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.
Coverage of the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Division Regional Championship tournament on Jordan Lake will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. “FLW Outdoors”, and will air Dec. 19 from 1 to 2 ET. “FLW Outdoors,” is hosted by Jason Harper, and is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide.
ABOUT FLW OUTDOORS
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 189 tournaments in 2010. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000.By: Chad Gay, Public Relations Manager
