RADFORD -- The Fishing Club at Radford University, RU’s club team in the burgeoning sport of collegiate fishing, has advanced to the Southern Collegiate Bass Fishing Series (SCBFS) Championship on April 17-18 on Lake Wilson, Ala. The SCBFS Championship will be broadcast on Versus, formerly the Outdoor Life Network, which offers sports programming such as professional bullriding, college football and hunting and fishing events.

The RU team qualified for its berth among the 20-team field on the strength of its performance at a pair of recent open events for collegiate fishermen. At the SCBFS open in March, the RU team of Travis Lively and Tyler Vaughn posted two-day weights of 12.86 and 78 points to finish 30th. At an open event in February, Lively and Vaughn posted two-day weights of 17.10 and 86 points for a 15th place finish among 52 teams.

“It is definitely exciting,” said Vaughn, a junior from Winchester who also serves as the club president. “We are eager to see how we fare against the field in this tough event.”

RU’s team will be casting for the opportunity to advance to the 2009 Boat U.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championships on Texas’ Lake Lewisville in May where 120 to 150 other collegiate teams will be represented.

The Fishing Club at RU is completing its first year as a sanctioned RU club sport and boasts a membership of 16.