The BassPack fishing team is set for another title run in the Under Armor College Fishing National Championship, held on the Arkansas River in Little Rock, Ark. Beginning Friday morning, Will White, a senior in wood products and Chris Wood, a junior in textile engineering, will fish for a spot in the final round of competition Sunday.
Wood, who has been practicing on the river with White for nearly a week, said he believes the duo has a great chance to bring home another national title.
“We’ve been catching some good fish since Saturday. The last couple of years, the tournament has been taking in low weights, and another recent tournament won on a 15-pound fish,” Wood said. “We caught 15-pound bass on the first day of practice, which is a lot for the river, and we still have up until Friday to practice.”
If Wood and White can finish in the top five by the end of the day Saturday, they will move on to Sunday’s third round and one step closer to the title. Wood said the weather needs to hold up to have prime fishing weather, and hopes that the temperatures can drop back out of the low-90s.
Teammate Ben Dziwulski, a sophomore in agricultural business management, is already excited for the duo’s success in practicing and says that he would like to see them earn back-to-back bragging rights for the BassPack.
“Hopefully, they can come up with another good finish, or even win the championship,” Dziwulski said. “We are the last ACC team to win a national championship, so we’re trying to top that and get another one pretty soon.”
Meanwhile, Dziwulski and fishing partner Kevin Beverley, a sophomore in biological engineering, caught some of their own success. The pair earned fifth place cut out of forty teams at the SLW College Fishing Regional Qualifier Tournament, which was held June 27 on the Potomac River in Maryland. The top five pairs advanced.
Fellow teammates Josh Hooks, a sophomore in industrial engineering, and White finished in seventh place, just ounces outside of qualifying for the regional championship. Dziwulski and Beverley received $2,000 in scholarships in addition to a bid to regionals at Lake Norman, N.C. in November.
With one team already guaranteed a spot in regional championship, the BassPack has three more upcoming regional qualifier events where other members will fish to compete for a bid to the finals alongside Dziwulski and Beverly. Should multiple N.C. State teams qualify, the Pack will have a greater shot at the regional title and the accompanying $25,000 top prize, which Dziwulski said he “wouldn’t mind winning.”
