HILLSBORO, Ill. – The fishing team secured their first win of the 2019-20 season. Junior fishermen Cordell Beckmann and Dru Johnson navigated tough fishing conditions to secure their first place finish by a large margin.

McKendree University held two separate events over the weekend, the first on Vandalia Lake, followed by the event Beckmann and Johnson won on Glenn Shoals Lake.

In the Glenn Shoals Lake event, Beckmann and Johnson were the only team that managed to fill their five fish limit. The next closest team brought two fish to the scales. The Greenville team dropped 14.26 pounds on the scales, outpacing second place by more than six and a half pounds, and topping the 22 boat field.

In addition to the team's win on Glenn Shoals Lake, Cordell Beckmann and Ricky Huge finished 5th during the McKendree Invitational on Vandalia Lake. Beckmann and Huge put together a five fish limit of 11.66 pounds, which landed them in fifth, and just 0.82 pounds out of second place.

Fishing proved markedly better at the Vandalia Lake event than the Hillsboro event with multiple teams out of the 25 boat field bringing limits to the scales.

The two top five finishes served as a great start to the 2019-20 Collegiate Bass Fishing School of the Year points race. Two strong finishes early in the season should boost the team's national rankings.

While pleased with a 25th place finish out of 263 universities nation-wide last year, the Panthers are looking to top it with a top 20 finish this year.