NEW ORLEANS, La., July 30, 1999 --Two youths advanced from a field of thousands to win national championships and $10,000 in college scholarships at the BASSMASTER CastingKids National Championship held here today.
The titles were determined during the BASS Masters Classic underway through tomorrow to determine bass fishing's world championship on the Louisiana Delta.
C.J. Shirrey, 10, from Talledega, Ala., and Emily Hedrick, 14, of Lexington, N.C., each earned $5,000 scholarships and national titles at the CastingKids National Championship sponsored by retailers Zebco and Kmart. CastingKids program is divided into 7-10 and 11-14 age divisions. Shirrey won the 7-10 title while the 11-14 championship was claimed by Hedrick.
More than 130,000 youths between the ages of 7 and 14 participated in last season's CastingKids program. Shirrey and Hedrick began their quests for the national title by winning a contest in their hometowns. They advanced to their respective state finals and then to the national semifinals. From there, they qualified for the national championship.
Hedrick continued a trend in this competition, that being the fourth year a girl has won the national title. Ironically, her best friend is GrayAnna Freeman, last year's 7-10 national champion from Bolton, N.C.
"People say the boys have more pressure to do well than the girls," said Hedrick, an eighth grader at Central Davidson Middle School. "That's because they say the boys fish and we don't, so we don't have anything to lose. I disagree. We like to fish, too. I started fishing when I was two and love to fish with my friends and family."
CastingKids was created by the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S) for the very reason Hedrick enjoys fishing. And that is, to promote fishing as a family activity during a time when the sport has seen declining youth participation due to competition from other leisure activities. The formula is working. Since CastingKids was created in 1991, more than one million youths have been introduced to fishing.
CastingKids involves a series of flipping, pitching and casting contests using a hookless lure. In each contest, the contestants get two chances to hit a target with the lure from 30 feet by casting, 20 feet by pitching, and 10 feet by flipping. The target has circles worth 20, 30, 40 and 50 points. A perfect score is 150, with 50 points being scored for each of the three categories. The highest of the two attempts is recorded as the final score.
Shirrey coasted to victory when compared to co-champion Hedrick. His winning score of 130 points was better than the 120 scored by runner-up Kyler Edgehouse. By contrast, Hedrick had to endure three tie-breaking contests to win her title. Hedrick initially scored 140 points along with Arkansas' Jordan Hall. Both scored 30 and 40 points, respectively, in the first two tie-breakers. Hedrick notched the win after scoring 20 points with Hall failing to hit the target in the final tie-breaker.