The UNA Bass Fishing team has started the year in full throttle as they hold the No. 1 spot in the Association of Collegiate Anglers Cabela’s School of the Year race.

The race allows collegiate fishing teams to be ranked and compared from multiple leagues, according to a description on the ACA’s website.

“Over the past couple of years we’ve developed and operated what we think is the fairest and most exciting way to determine which collegiate bass fishing school truly is the best team in fishing right where it matters — on the water,” said ACA Director Wade Middleton in a release on Jan. 17.

Although this year’s series had just begun, members of the bass fishing team are looking to maintain the first-place ranking all the way to the end, said Robb Young, a senior and founding member of the team.

“(The tournament is) a way to combine many of the larger and more competitive tournaments on to one points system, averaging up each team’s overall finishes to result in a relatively accurate national ranking,” Young said. “We finished overall second in the nation last year and plan on winning it all this year.”

The team’s performance is remarkable, considering they have only been around for five years and are a registered student organization, said Vice President for Student Affairs David Shields, the team’s adviser.

“We started out in 2008 with around 14 members and now currently have 25 members,” Young said. “Our bass fishing team has been on national television more than all of the other (NCAA and university-sanctioned UNA teams) put together over the past five years, yet we have a lot less local and university support and recognition than most other (student athletic organizations).”

Some students may not know the university has a bass fishing team at all, said Adam Netherton, a junior.

“There’s nothing wrong with number one,” Netherton said. “I think students should know about it, (although) I don’t know how many students would care.”

Despite the absence of local support, the team has been able to sustain and grow their membership through being in the public eye as they compete in up to 25 tournaments per year. Members also recruit by reaching out to individuals competing in high school tournaments, said sophomore Dawson Lenz, the team’s president.

“Some guys (on other collegiate teams) are driving between an hour and a half to two hours just to have the opportunity to fish,” Lenz said. “We get to tell people that our school is two minutes up the road. We literally fish everyday if we want to.”

Shields has personally met with two students who decided to attend the university because of the fishing team, he said.

“It’s a sort of unique thing for a university our size to have a bass fishing team, and one that’s done so well,” Shields said. “They also receive a tremendous amount of sponsorships. The Lauderdale County Tourism Office is one of their biggest sponsors and we have alumni give money to the team as well.”

While the sponsorships and the university’s club sports fund provide financial support for the team’s budget, members of the team do not receive scholarships. There are not appropriate funds for the university to create a scholarship at this time, though the team could establish one, Shields said.

“That’s our one point that’s hard on us,” Lenz, said. “We are trying to work on that, because there are schools out there that do give fishing scholarships, some of which are pretty big. That’s the next step we want to achieve, but we just haven’t gotten it yet.”

It would make sense for the university to fund the team with some scholarship money, given their impressive performance, Netherton said.

“We are truly blessed to have the support from our university and other sponsors such as Florence Lauderdale Tourism, but could always use more financial assistance,” Young said. “Traveling to all of these tournaments is not cheap at all, especially for full-time college students.”

Regardless, the team will continue their fight to stay at the top of the School of the Year race all year long and will fish their next event on Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Ga. Saturday, Feb. 1.