By Ray Benton
Leader sports editor
The North Pulaski High School fishing duo of Cody’s finished in the top five of the High School Fishing World Finals last weekend on Lake Dardanelle.
Cody Mecalo and Cody Seats made up one of only seven two-man teams to advance to the final round, qualifying seventh, and finished fifth out of 113 teams from 23 states to compete in the event.
NPHS actually had two teams in the top 15. Another NP duo of John Ball and Kendall Long finished 14th overall.
It’s just the second year for NP’s fishing team, headed by coach Robbie Walker, who started an unofficial fishing club at the school four years ago.
“We’ve had some kids from the start that had pretty good knowledge on this sport,” Walker said. “They’ve just jumped right in and really taken off with it. This team has enjoyed a lot of success and we’re having a lot of fun.”
Ball and Long took second place in the state fishing tournament last season.
“Those two were really close to qualifying for the final day too,” Walker said. “They lost two that last day that would’ve put them in there.”
Seats and Mecalo also lost a big one on the final day.
“That fish would’ve put them higher, but it wouldn’t have made the difference in winning and losing,” Walker said. “Those kids who won it from Arizona really caught some good fish.”
The Phoenix duo of Thomas Chambers and Brandon Koon were three pounds ahead of second place to win the event, and earned a $4,000-per-year, renewable scholarship from Bethel University in Tennessee. It’s a total prize package of over $33,000.
Chambers’ and Koon’s total catch was 19 pounds, eight ounces. Kendal and Cody Chesser of Dover, who won the Arkansas state title, finished second at 16 pounds, eight ounces. A team from North Carolina was third with Greenbrier taking fourth. Rounding out the final-round top seven were teams from Kentucky and South Carolina.
The event was hard fishing with low totals. Patience was the key for the North Pulaski team, which pulled in almost all of its qualifying catch just before weigh-in.
“It was hard,” Cody Mecalo said. “We caught lots of fish, we just couldn’t seem to get on any keepers the whole day. The whole tournament was hard. It was hot, we had to fish slow and just be patient.”
The team just missed out on the final cut last year, making this year that much sweeter.
“I really don’t know if I have the words to describe how it felt to make that last day,” Mecalo said. “We were so close last year and slipped up. It was nerve racking during that weigh-in. We only made it by 14 ounces, but it felt really good.”
