Arkansas Tech University Fishing Club members Jade Craft of Paragould and Remi Lawrence of Melbourne won the Arkansas Collegiate Series championship for a second consecutive year following their performance on Lake Norfork Nov. 5-6.
Craft and Lawrence brought 16.11 pounds of fish to the scales during the two-day tournament to edge out the runner-up team of Easton Bouma and Zach Ward from Drury University. Bouma and Ward returned 15.9 pounds.
A total of 24 teams representing nine universities and colleges competed in the season-ending tournament at Lake Norfork.
The victory continued Arkansas Tech’s dominance of the ACS Championship dating back to 2017. Craft and Lawrence brought home the sixth consecutive state title for the ATU Fishing Club, adding to the tradition built by Bennett Pierce and Jordan Ogle (2017), Kory England and Matt Baker (2018 and 2020), Chase Gallaway and Pierce (2019) and the title earned by Craft and Lawrence in 2021.
Two additional teams from the ATU Fishing Club — Brandon Mann of Hot Springs Village and Nate Oosterhous of Glenwood (fifth, 12.31 pounds) and Kanon Harmon of Haskell and Cody McEntire of Walnut Ridge (ninth, 10.82 pounds) — also finished in the top 10 at the 2022 Arkansas Collegiate Series Championship.
The teams of Kade Weaver of Warren and Weston Villines of Bethel Heights (11th, 8.9 pounds), Grant Bearden of Benton and Karson Hamilton of Hot Springs (14th, 7.87 pounds) and Zeke Stevens of Springdale and Braden Jones of Hot Springs (15th, 7.06 pounds) also represented the ATU Fishing Club in the 2022 ACS Championship, as did Asa Chism of Benton (22nd, 1.38 pounds).
Learn more about the ATU Fishing Club at www.facebook.com/atufishing.
