Carson-Newman University Makes History, Wins Largest MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Tournament of All-Time at Lake Chickamauga

October 24, 2021
|In MLF Big 5, RESULTS
|By AnglersChannel
DAYTON, Tenn. (Oct. 24, 2021) – The Carson-Newman University duo of Ben Cully of Rockwall, Texas, and Hayden Gaddis of Seymour, Tennessee, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Friday weighing 18 pounds even to win the Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI at Lake Chickamauga. The victory earned the Eagles bass club $2,000 and qualified the duo to compete in the 2022 College Fishing National Championship.

Hosted by Fish Dayton and the Rhea Economic & Tourism Council, the field of 278 teams competing broke an MLF record as the largest Collegiate Fishing tournament of all-time. The previous record was set in March of 2018, when 276 teams competed in a Southeastern Conference event at Lake Guntersville.

According to post-tournament reports the duo caught their fish on an unnamed frog, targeting weedy areas.

TOP 10 RESULTS*

RANK COLLEGE NAME ANGLER NAME/HOMETOWN BASS WEIGHT AWARD
1st Carson-Newman University Ben Cully, Rockwall, Texas
Hayden Gaddis, Seymour, Tenn.		 5 18-0 $2,000
2nd Columbia State Community College Hunter Jones, Mount Pleasant, Tenn.
Ryan Prince, Mount Pleasant, Tenn.		 5 15-14 $1,000
3rd Emmanuel College Cy Casey, Evans, Ga.
Tanner Hadden, Evans, Ga.		 5 15-0 $500
4th Florida Gateway College Seth Slanker, Lake City, Fla.
Jackson Swisher, Lake City, Fla.		 5 14-14 $500
5th Florida Gateway College Tommy Dunaway, Havana, Fla.
Seth Jones, Havana, Fla.		 5 14-8 $500
6th Georgia College Noah Campbell, Madison, Ga.
Troy Harris, Watkinsville, Ga.		 5 14-1
7th University of North Alabama Walker Sahagun, Trussville, Ala.
Kyle Zainitzer, Palm City, Fla.		 5 13-11
8th University of Montevallo Tyler Cain, Bessemer, Ala.
Cole Dodson, Gardendale, Ala.		 5 13-10
9th University of Montevallo Andrew Howell, Pisgah Forest, N.C.
Tommy Sendek, Tucson, Ariz.		 4 13-9
10th Kentucky Christian University Lafe Messer, Warfield, Ky.
Matt Messer, Warfield, Ky.		 5 13-7

*Top 27 teams advance to the 2022 College Fishing National Championship

Complete results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

2021 QUALIFICATION OPPORTUNITIES

EVENT DATE LOCATION HOST
Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI National Championship Presented by Lowrance March 29-31, 2022 Fort Gibson Lake, Wagoner, Okla. Wagoner Area Chamber of Commerce

The event was the third and final qualifying tournaments for Southeastern Conference anglers.

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 MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by YETI on MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter,  Instagram and  YouTube.