Arizona wins FLW High School Fishing National Championship on Lake Keowee

Frankie Mueller (right) and Shane Edgar (left) win the 2014 High School Fishing National Championship on Lake Keowee. The team, which won the Western Conference Championship to qualify for nationals, represented the state of Arizona. Photo by Julie Huber.

March 9, 2014 • MLF • Archives

SENECA, S.C. – The Kingman Academy/Sandra Day O’Connor High School team of Frankie Mueller and Shane Edgar won the FLW High School Fishing National Championship on Lake Keowee on Saturday with a catch of 9 pounds, 13 ounces. The team, which won the Western Conference Championship to qualify for nationals, won $5,000 in tuition prizes.

Rounding out the top five finalists:

1. Western Conference – Frankie Mueller and Shane Edgar – Kingman Academy/Sandra Day O’Connor High School, five fish, 9-13

2. Southeastern Conference – Carter McNeil and Tucker Smith – Abbeville High School, five fish, 9-7

3. Southern Conference – Cameron Mattison and Chad Poulsen – Airline High School, two fish, 3-10

4. Central Conference – Kaleb Seeger and Jake Saterbak – Maple Grove Senior High School, two fish, 2-6

5. Northern Conference – Corey Horelick and Austin Bestwick – Ella T. Grasso Southeastern Technical High School, one fish, 1-11

Based on the highly successful 2009 launch of FLW College Fishing, which now enjoys participation by more than 600 colleges and universities nationwide, FLW and The Bass Federation (TBF) joined forces in 2011 to launch the first national High School Fishing program. By offering a high school bass fishing state championship in every state in the continental United States plus the province of Ontario, FLW and TBF are recruiting a record number of youth to the sport. Each year FLW and TBF operate more than 50 High School Fishing tournaments under the Student Angler Federation (SAF) umbrella, including opens, conference championships and a national championship that awards a $10,000 scholarship ($5,000 per student) to the winning two-angler team.

High School fishing is open to all students grades nine through 12. Each team of two students and their “coach,” who provides and operates their boat during competition, are invited to compete in a state championship. The top 10 percent of each state championship field then advances to a conference championship, and the top 10 percent of each conference championship field advances to the High School Fishing National Championship. Each member of the winning team at the 2014 High School Fishing National Championship received $5,000 to help cover tuition at the university of their choice.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow FLW on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.

About FLW

FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2014 over the course of 229 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world. FLW is committed to providing a lifestyle experience that is the “Best in Fishing, On and Off the Water.” For more information about FLW visit FLWOutdoors.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube.