ACA School of the Year Program

The Association of Collegiate Anglers has designed a School of the Year program to both rank and reward collegiate fishing teams throughout the country. The program is built to reward teams that compete in the BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series, as well as Mercury College B.A.S.S. Super Regionals, and National Guard FLW College Regionals. The respective championship events for each series will count towards the School of the Year program as well. In addition to the three national collegiate fishing trails, the ACA will also award points for select ACA-sanctioned events throughout the season. A complete listing of the initial events eligible for points is maintained on the collegiatebasschampionship.com website, and can be found here. As part of the program, the ACA will award points to each competing school, based on their finish in the event in relation to field size. In addition to competition points, teams can also earn points for participating in conservation projects submitted to the Berkley Conservation Institute Program through the ACA, as well as hosting their own events.

Program Dates: July 1, 2011 – June 30, 2012

Points System Description

Teams competing on behalf of their collegiate fishing clubs will earn points that accumulate in the School of the Year race based upon the ACA Points Formula. Up to two teams may earn points in each of the recognized tournaments. In the event a college fishing club has more than two teams in a tournament, points will be awarded based on the two highest finishing teams’ final standings.

In order to receive points in a sanctioned event, students must have weight in the final official standings after any penalties or deductions have been assessed. Students with no recorded weight will receive no points.

ACA Points Formula = (The number of teams in the event) – (Team’s final standings position) + 1

Example: State University fishes the BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship with a total of 200 teams. They finish the event in fourth place; therefore, the score is as follows:

200 – 4 + 1 = 197 points awarded to the team for the Team of the Year Race

State University has a second team that fishes the same event and that team finishes 22; therefore, the score is as follows:

200 – 22 +1 =179 points awarded to the team for the Team of the Year Race

State University earned: 197 + 179 points, for a total of 376 points for the School of the Year Race.

Ties

Ties in qualifying events will be resolved according to league rules prior to assigning point values.

Ties in the School of the Year Program will be broken at the conclusion of the season in the following manner:

1^st Tie-breaker: The team with the highest number of points accumulated in the three BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series events (Championship, Open, and Big Bass Bash)

2^nd Tie-breaker: The team that fished the greatest number of BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series events

3^rd Tie-breaker: The team with the greatest number of points in the BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship (May 23-25, 2012)

Bonus Point Opportunities

Schools may also earn bonus points for the School of the Year program through two methods.

The Berkley Conservation Institute:

• All teams that submit a presentation to Careco TV according to the program rules will earn 5 points, with a maximum of 2 presentations and 10 points awarded per school
• The winning team will earn 40 additional points, along with other prizes
• The second place team will earn 35 additional points, along with other prizes
• The third place team will earn 30 additional points, along with other prizes
• A school may earn no more than 50 Berkley Conservation Institute Points per year

Event Hosting Bonuses

• Teams that host an invitational trail or multiple collegiate fishing events will earn 10 points
• Teams that host a single invitational event will earn 5 points
• In order to earn points, the event must be an invitational and include schools other than the host school
• Points will be awarded at the conclusion of said event(s) or tournament trail

Prizes

The winners of the 2012 ACA School of the Year program will receive a sponsor prize pack valued at over $7,000 and their own dedicated television highlights. An entire episode of Americana Outdoors, as well as in-show features within the BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series, will be devoted to the 2012 program, the ultimate winners, and their climb to the top honor of School of the Year.

Second place will receive $3,000 in merchandise courtesy of the Association of Collegiate Anglers’ sponsors, along with recognition within the programming.

Third place will receive $1,500 in merchandise courtesy of the Association of Collegiate Anglers’ sponsors, along with recognition within the programming.

Questions

If you have questions regarding the ACA School of the Year program, please contact Program Director, Danny Blandford at: danny@carecotv.com.