NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Sept. 23, 2019) – Illinois’ Pinckneyville Community High School duo of Zachary Martin of Pinckneyville, Illinois, and Trey McKinney of Carbondale, Illinois, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 10 pounds, 3 ounces to win the 2019 Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Arkansas River Open.

A field of 16 teams competed in the no-entry fee tournament, which launched from the North River Landing in North Little Rock. The tournament was hosted by the North Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau. In FLW and The Bass Federation (TBF) High School Fishing competition, the top 10-percent of teams competing advance to the High School Fishing National Championship.

The top team on the Arkansas River that advanced to the 2020 High School Fishing National Championship was:

1st:       Pinckneyville Community High School, Pinckneyville, Ill. – Zachary Martin, Pinckneyville, Ill., and Trey McKinney, Carbondale, Ill., five bass, 10-3

Rounding out the top 10 teams were:

2nd:     Cabot High School, Cabot, Ark. – Cody Ostendorf and Masen Wade, both of Cabot, Ark., five bass, 7-11

3rd:      Bryant High School, Bryant, Ark. – Tucker Dottley, Little Rock, Ark., and Brandon Gabe, Benton, Ark., four bass, 6-15

4th:      Central Arkansas Flippin’ Outcasts, Cabot, Ark. – Davis Coleman and Grant Shahan, both of Sherwood, Ark., two bass, 5-5

5th:      Cabot High School, Cabot, Ark. – Harrison Friddle and Zachery Ward, both of Cabot, Ark., two bass, 4-9

6th:      Kay County Student Anglers, Kay County, Okla. – Hayden Newland, Ponca City, Okla., and Ty Downs, Newkirk, Okla., two bass, 4-3

7th:      Benton High School, Benton, La. – Peyton Grantham, Benton, La., and Tanner Underwood, Bossier City, La., two bass, 3-12

8th:      Vilonia High School, Vilonia, Ark. – Mason Davis, Vilonia, Ark., and Noah Yelich, Conway. Ark., two bass, 3-5

9th:      Independence High School, Frisco, Texas – Hunter Jenkins, McKinney, Texas and Hunter Triebel, Frisco, Texas, one bass, 2-7

10th:    Bauxite High School, Bauxite, Ark. – Brody Jacks, Tull, Ark., and Kanon Harmon, Benton, Ark., three bass, 2-6

Complete results from the event can be found at FLWFishing.com.

The 2019 Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Arkansas River Open was a two-person (team) event for students in grades 7-12, open to any Student Angler Federation (SAF) affiliated high school club in the United States. The top 10 percent of each Challenge, Open, and state championship field will advance to the 2020 High School Fishing National Championship on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The High School Fishing national champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice.

In addition to the High School Fishing National Championship, all High School Fishing anglers nationwide automatically qualify for the world’s largest open high school bass tournament, the 2020 High School Fishing World Finals, held in conjunction with the National Championship. At the 2019 World Finals more than $150,000 in scholarships and prizes were awarded.

Full schedules and the latest announcements are available at HighSchoolFishing.org and FLWFishing.com.

About FLW
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2019 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their 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 FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.