Fishing competes in first national event

The Alexandria College Legends Competitive Fishing team competed in its first national event at the Major League Fishing/Abu Garcia College Fishing event at Table Rock Lake in Missouri on April 9.

Two Alexandria College teams competed: Jared Haugen and Brett VanderTuin, and Kyle Fischer and Josh Berzinski.

Haugen VanderTuin, the top team from the fall season, led for the Legends with their top four fish weighing in at 10 pounds even. At one point they were in third place, but after all fish were weighed they still ended up finishing in the top 25 percent of the fleet (34th out of 149 teams).

Fischer and Berzinski finished in the bottom half of the fleet at 96th, just ahead of the University of Minnesota. Both Legends teams caught many fish, while 37 competing teams did not weigh a fish.

"I really couldn't be more proud of our team. To go out and beat some big name D1 schools in our first event felt great," said Head Coach Joe Scegura. "It really validated that we have some great talent here at Alexandria College. I'm very excited for next season, but it will be bitter sweet. Kyle Fischer and Jared Haugen will have graduated, but we are lucky to have Brett VanderTuin and Josh Berzinski back on the roster for next Fall."

The Legends were underdogs from the beginning of the competition and the students fed off of it, Scegura said. The students had never fished the lake and many competing schools considered Table Rock their "home lake." The Legends students also fished out of their own boats, while many competing teams showed up with sponsored boats that were 10 times the cost and outfitted with far more technology.

"I know equipment doesn't always make a difference but when you show up to a Nascar race with a pedal bike it's hard to not be intimidated," Scegura said. "We hope to get a boat of similar caliber soon, but for now we are having a blast competing at these big events."