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The first couple in college fishing has officially established Nicholls State as one of the premier bass fishing programs in the country.
The Colonels’ one-two fishing punch of Raceland native Tyler Rivet and Houma native Allyson Marcel finished third place in the Bassmasters Collegiate National Championships this past week in Wisconsin.
The Colonels were in the thick of things from start-to-finish, even holding the overall lead after two days of the 80-plus team, three-day event that crowns the sport’s national champion.
In the final day, Rivet and Marcel, who have been dating for the past several months, slid to the back of the pack and lost their lead to Texas A&M duo Josh Bensema and Matthew Mcardle – the eventual champions.
But for their efforts, the duo made the winner’s stand after the final weigh-in, and were honored with a third-place trophy.
They also scored huge name recognition for a Nicholls bass fishing program that is still in just its second season of competition.
The University of Minnesota’s team of Trevor Lo and Chris Burgan finished second.
“Holding up that third-place trophy in front of the crowd is a scene that can never be forgotten,” Rivet said. “It was a little more than the coolest thing ever being able to fish this tournament with my girlfriend. This all is showing that everyone should take Nicholls State University seriously, even though we are just getting started. It was literally unbelievable, because coming into this tournament, we never would have thought that we’d be in first place at one point – or even that we’d finish third. It’s absolutely crazy.”
From the first moment that anglers were allowed to put a cork in the water on Thursday morning, the Colonels proved that they were in it to win it.
Rivet and Marcel snagged a three-bass string on Thursday that weighed 6-pounds, 9-ounces – a solid start to the tournament that left Nicholls comfortably in eighth place.
On day two is when Nicholls shined the brightest.
With a little bit of a better feel for the freshwater conditions in Stevens Point, Wisconsin’s Lake DuBay, Rivet and Marcel roared and caught a three-fish string that weighed 8-pounds, 7-ounces. That trio of fish was the largest catch of any team throughout the tournament by six ounces.
It put the Colonels in the two-day lead by six ounces over Bensema and Mcardle, who led after the opening day.
Rivet said that standing on the podium with the lead after the second day of fishing is the biggest thrill that he’s ever experienced in his life.
The duo was featured on the front page of BassMaster.com throughout Friday night, and they were also photographed and interviewed for more than 30 minutes after learning of their position at the top of the leaderboard.
“That was one of the most exciting things that I’d ever done in my life,” Marcel said. “To be out of the boat and back on the land and to be in the lead was special. To stand up there and see all of the people rooting us on and supporting us, it was just a truly great feeling.”
But once the thrill wore down and the adrenaline stopped pumping, it was back to business and the nerves started to sink in.
Rivet said that contending for a national championship creates an intense pressure that is unrivaled to anything he’s ever felt in any other sporting endeavor. He said he and Marcel now know how some of the best in the world feel when they approach the final stages of their competitions.
“No one has ever felt the pressure of what it’s like to be in first in a tournament like this unless you’ve ever tournament fished,” Rivet said. “Allyson and I barely slept on Friday night.”
Despite the jitters on Friday, Rivet and Marcel said that they were both calm and collected on Saturday as they got into the boat and tried to win the National Championship.
But the weather conditions in the final day were not conducive for successful fishing – the quantity of fishing that the lake felt in the three days spooked a lot of the fish. Because of that, just four total fish were weighed on the final day – none from Rivet and Marcel. That opened the door for Bensema and Mcardle, who caught a two-fish string at 3-pounds, 10-ounces to take the title.
“Our fish got beat up too much by other people and we ended up not catching them,” Rivet said on the tough final day.
But the regret of not winning it all didn’t take long to fade, because the Colonels still had a special season – one that didn’t seem possible 24 months ago when Nicholls didn’t even have a team.
But the precedent has now been set and the world knows that when it comes to bass fishing, Nicholls State University means business.
Rivet and Marcel both said they wanted to thank the multiple sponsors the team has had throughout its inception, including several businesses and citizens who donated money to the team in recent weeks to make the Wisconsin trip possible.
“It’s a feeling like no other,” Rivet said. “I really don’t think we could have made it here without the friendships we’ve made along the way.”
