Link to image of Lamar
University

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (Oct. 4, 2012) – It was sunny and warm Thursday for the
opening day of the National Guard FLW College Fishing Southern Conference
Championship on Lake Dardanelle. At the end of the day, one college team that is
no stranger to leading FLW College Fishing events, the Lamar University team of
Danny Iles of Evadale, Texas, and Justin Royal of Hemphill, Texas, stood atop
the leaderboard with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 12 ounces. Twenty college
teams from around the region are participating in the tournament and competing
for a Ranger Z117 bass boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard
and a berth in the National Guard FLW College Fishing National
Championship.

“Today went pretty much according to plan,” said Iles, who has four FLW
College victories under his belt. “We had a solid plan coming into this, and we
were thinking about 14 to 16 pounds is what we would want today. So we went out
and executed pretty well.”

Royal said the team was “specific junk fishing,” meaning they were using a
variety of baits and techniques while still focusing on certain areas and
features in the water. Royal said the team caught about 15 fish during the
course of the day, nine of which were keepers. Iles said the team lost no fish
during the first day of competition.

“We’ll catch some here and catch some there,” Royal said. “We’re just
moving around. We’ve got one area that’s pretty good that we’re starting on, and
we can really catch them there.

“We’re kind of relaxed, but we know we still have to go catch them
tomorrow,” Royal added. “Anything can happen. One big fish for a team that had
11 pounds today puts them on top. We know we’re going to have to catch about
what we did today to be leading tomorrow.”

The top 10 teams are:

1^st: Lamar University – Danny Iles, Evadale, Texas, and Justin
Royal, Hemphill, Texas, five bass, 15-12

2^nd: LSU-Shreveport – Joseph Landry, Haughton, La., and Gavin
Havard, West Monroe, La., five bass, 13-14

3^rd:  Angelo State – Ethan George, Breckenridge, Texas, and Josh
Seale, San Angelo, Texas, five bass, 12-8

4^th:  Texas State University – David Cosner, Austin, Texas, and
Jared Brown, San Jose, Calif., five bass, 12-6

5^th:  University of Louisiana-Monroe – Paul Clark, Pineville,
La., and Brett Preuett, Monroe, La., four bass, 11-8

6^th:  University of Louisiana-Monroe – Nick Ladart, Monroe, La.,
and Brian Eaton, Monroe, La., five bass, 11-5

7^th:  Stephen F. Austin – Kyle Turner, Kennedale, Texas, and
Robert Platt, Tyler, Texas, five bass, 11-3

8^th:  Arkansas Tech University – Reagan Moore, Russellville,
Ark., and Evan Barnes, Dierks, Ark., five bass, 10-13

9^th: University of Texas-Tyler – Charlie Brown, Tyler, Texas,
and Matthew McClellan, Jasper, Texas, two bass, 8-3

10^th: Henderson State – Shane Stoddard, Camden, Ark., and Drew
Rabb, Hot Springs, Ark., three bass, 7-12

For complete results visit CollegeFishing.com.

Anglers will take off from Lake Dardanelle State Park located at 100 State
Park Drive in Russellville, Ark., at 7 a.m. each morning. Weigh-ins will be at
Walmart located at 2409 E. Main St. in Russellville beginning at 4 p.m. each
day. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

Fans will be treated to the FLW Expo at Walmart on Friday from 2–4 p.m. and
Saturday from noon–4 p.m. prior to weigh-ins. The Expo includes Ranger boat
simulators, interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by sponsors.
Fans can also learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor
activities. All activities are free and open to the public.

Four regular-season qualifying events were held in each conference –
Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southern and Western – the top five teams from
each regular-season event qualified for one of five conference championships.
The top five teams from each conference championship advance to the National
Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship.

College Fishing is free to enter and FLW provides boats and drivers for
each competing team along with travel allowances. All participants must be
registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or
university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or
university.

Coverage of the Southern Conference Championship will be broadcast in
high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs Dec. 30 from 1-2 p.m.
EST. “FLW” is hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 559 million
households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly
outdoors-sports television show in the world.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College
Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and
on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing. Visit
CollegeFishing.com to sign up or to
start a club at your school.