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Southern Illinois well represented in bass fishing finals

Bailey Whitehead and Chase Arnold from Crab Orchard High School are congratulated for their first place win at the Lake of Egypt sectionals. They had a total weight of 15.9 pounds, beating all comers.
Kristin Moore/Daily Republican
Herrin High School's Cameron Vaughn and Braden Heuring hold up their fish - 10.29 pounds of bass.
Kristin Moore/Daily Republican
Dustin Buford, a senior at Crab Orchard High School, holds up three of five total fish that placed him second in the 2017 IHSA Bass Fishing sectional.
Kristin Moore/Daily Republican
Marion High School sophomores Justin Roberts and A.J. Segers weigh their catch at the sectional.
Kristin Moore/Daily Republican
Carterville's Toby Farrar and John Weihman caught five bass fish totaling 10.2 pounds at the Lake of Egypt sectionals.
Kristin Moore/Daily Republican

Staff report

updated: 5/9/2017 2:37 PM

Crab Orchard High School, Benton High School, Nashville High School, Pinckneyville High School and West Frankfort High School are all advancing to the state bass fishing tournament May 19-20 at Carlyle Lake.

Teams from each high school caught the most fish -- in weight -- at the Lake of Egypt and Rend Lake sectionals held recently.

Crab Orchard snared the top two places at Lake of Egypt -- with Team #2 winning outright at 15 pounds, 15 ounces. Team #1 caught 14 pounds, 5 ounces of fish. West Frankfort came in third at 13 pounds, 12 ounces.

At Lake of Egypt, Anna-Jonesboro #1 finished fourth with 13 pounds, 4 ounces and Marion High School # 1 finished fifth with 13 pounds, 2 ounces. The rest of the field at Lake of Egypt: Carterville #1, 6^th place; Marion #2, 7^th; Goreville #2, 8^th; Murphysboro, 9^th; Anna-Jonesboro #2, 10^th; Goreville #1, 11^th; Carbondale #2, 12^th; Herrin High School #2, 13^th; Elverado High School, 14^th and Herrin #2, 15^th.

The largest bass caught at the Lake of Egypt sectional was a 5-pound, 2-ouncer caught by Bailey Whitehead of Crab Orchard High School. The Crab Orchard teams are coached by Hunter Arnold; the West Frankfort team is coached by Josh Hefner.

At Rend Lake, the Benton #1 team landed on top with a catch weighing four pounds, 12 ounces. Nashville #1 came in second with 3 pounds, 3 ounces and Pinckneyville #2 was third with 2 pounds, 12 ounces. Here's how the rest of the Rend Lake field finished: Pinckneyville #1, 4^th place; Mascoutah #1, 5^th place; Coulterville #1, 6^th place; Du Quoin #2, 7^th place; teams from Sparta High School finished 8^th and 9^th; Red Bud High School #1, 10^th; Waltonville, 11^th; Du Quoin #1, 12^th and Belleville West #1, 13^th.

The Benton High School teams are coached by Jim Eldridge; the Nashville team by Jason Alli and the Pinckneyville coach is Dennis Heape.