PSU Bass Fishing team prepares for national competition

PSU Bass Fishing Team: Will Skucius, left, and Adam Bennett.

While the higher profile athletic teams such as football and volleyball are tuning up for their fall seasons, another PSU team is heading off for national competition. Two young men will represent Pittsburg State University this weekend in college bass fishing's national championship in Pine Bluff, Ark. The PSU team will be one of dozens of university teams competing in the second annual College Smash-Mouth Bass Fishing Championship Aug. 26-29 on the Arkansas River at Pine Bluff. They are currently ranked 17th among the teams in the competition.

Will Skucius, a sophomore from Sterling, Kan., and Adam Bennett, a junior from Osceola, Mo., are members of the fledgling PSU Bass Fishing Club. Skucius is a business management and marketing major. Bennett is a math education major.

The young men will leave Thursday afternoon, towing a boat borrowed from Bennett's uncle. They are clearly excited and have high hopes for the competition. An added bonus, they said, will be an opportunity to visit the national professional bass fishing competition that will be taking place nearby.

Skucius and Bennett aren't concerned about their sport's low profile, although Bennett admitted that at least one professor seemed skeptical when he offered that he needed to miss class on Friday to go fishing.

For more on the College Smash-Mouth Bass Fishing Championship, visit www.collegebass.com/stories/PineBluff.tpl. The competition will also be broadcast on ESPN-U.

---Pitt State---