Riverside bass anglers finish 49th nationally, girls team ranks No. 1

A 49th-place finish against roughly 20,000 boats was enough to make Riverside High School’s bass fishing team a source of countywide bragging rights, but the eye-catching part was even better: the Riverside girls team was ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Decatur County Schools said the anglers also finished 49th among 315 of the country’s best high school fishermen and fisherwomen, missing the tournament’s big-fish prize by half a pound. The district credited coach Justin Kelley for guiding a result that put Riverside on one of the largest stages in high school sports.

For a small county with a 2020 Census population of 11,435, the accomplishment landed especially hard. Decatur County sits on the banks of the Tennessee River, and county government describes the area as a place with abundant opportunities for sports and hunting. That local identity, shaped by water, outdoors life and river culture, fits neatly with a bass fishing program that has now put Riverside in national company.

The scale of the sport helps explain why the finish matters. TSSAA and NFHS Network say Tennessee’s association oversees about 110,000 participants across 426 schools, while Tennessee BASS Nation says its youth and high school trail includes 167 schools or community teams and more than 1,400 student anglers. Against that kind of depth, a top-50 national finish is not a routine school update. It is the kind of result that reflects steady preparation, discipline and the ability to perform under pressure.

Riverside’s fishing success also has a strong local precedent. Sarah Swindle and Lainie Holbert became the first all-female team to win on the Tennessee Bass Nation High School State trail, taking a State Open title on Nickajack Lake on Sept. 9. A Riverside team post also said the school had finished top 50 nationally in the Bassmaster High School National Championship in Anderson, South Carolina, in a field of 315 boats.

For Riverside and for Decatur County, the latest finish reinforced that bass fishing is more than a side activity. It has become a recognizable part of the school’s identity, one that connects student achievement with a long-standing local outdoors tradition and gives the county another reason to take pride in its young athletes.