Lady Cards make history with fishing region championship
Published 11:00 am Monday, May 19, 2025
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George Rogers Clark High School has seen its students make history once again.
In what’s believed to be the first of its kind, Lady Cardinal athletes Megan Robinson and Emma Griffieth brought back to Winchester a 2025 Region Championship in girls’ bass fishing.
“Honestly, my initial reaction was ‘Wait, did we just do this? Did we just win?’” said Robinson, a sophomore. “My heart skipped a beat. [The] first thing I could do was hug Emma.”
“We worked very hard this year, and earned every bit of it,” added Griffieth, a senior.
The state competition, associated with the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA), took place at Herrington Lake in Harrodburg.
Both boys and girls are able to compete, with male competitors for GRC including junior Landon Chenault, junior Nathan Hoskins, freshman Eli Purcell, and freshman Bentley Purcell.
GRC athletes competed in Region 4.
“They’ve spent a lot of time on the way…This is the first year that we teamed up [Emma] and Megan together as an all-girl team. This is the first year that the school [has] had an all-girl team to go like they have here,” said assistant coach Wesley Purcell.
“This is a sport [where] a lot of people don’t realize there is no offseason,” added Head Coach H.D. Chenault. “Some teams will go fish tournaments [in] January or February.”
When Clark and Griffieth competed, they were judged based on the weight of five fish that they’d collected.
Though the team has caught plenty more throughout the year, the five chosen weighed a total of five pounds and 13 ounces.
Chenault adds that success with bass fishing in the area is nothing new.
“Clark County is known pretty much nationwide,” he said. “I think this makes the 13th year that Clark County has had a fishing team.”
Yet as the first all-girls squad to accomplish such a feat for GRC, they were recognized even by state senator Greg Elkins and other members of the Kentucky Senate in a proclamation presented to both.
Griffieth and Robinson add that they hope this accomplishment will open doors for others.
“I hope it brings more girls into it, because a lot of girls are scared of it,” said Griffieth.
“We hope that other girls will get interested in this sport, because we love it,” added Robinson.
Both Robinson and Griffieth expressed joy with the hashtag #seeyouatweighin.
“That’s something that’s close to us, and it has a big meaning to us,” said Robinson.