WADDINGTON, N.Y. — For the first time since he won at Lake Fork in the second Bassmaster Elite Series tournament of the season, Trey McKinney isn’t leading the Dakota Lithium Rookie of the Year race. JT Thompkins took the lead last week at Lake Champlain, but barely.
Thompkins, 22, from Myrtle Beach, S.C., leads McKinney, 19, from Carbondale, Ill., by a single point going into the season finale at the Humminbird Bassmaster Elite at the St. Lawrence River.
Also within striking distance of the ROY title are John Garrett, 28, of Union City, Tenn., and Wesley Gore, 23, of Clanton, Ala. They are only 12 and 13 points, respectively, behind Thompkins.
All nine of the rookies who qualified through the Bassmaster Opens EQ Series last season have one tournament of experience on the St. Lawrence River at Waddington. Thompkins was the only one of this season’s rookies to qualify for the Day 3 final last July 20-22. He finished seventh. McKinney was 88th, Garrett finished 60th and Gore placed 55th.
Tyler Williams, 22, of Belgrade, Maine, is fifth in the rookie standings. However, he trails Thompkins by 40 points and with three other anglers between him and the leader, his odds are long for claiming the ROY title this week.
Last year’s ROY crown came down to the final event as well. Joey Cifuentes III of Clinton, Ark., clinched a one-point victory over Kyoya Fujita of Japan with a 17th-place finish at the St. Lawrence River. The title wasn’t decided until the final day’s top 10, when Fujita finished third overall.
Thompkins and McKinney have a shot at prevailing in the Progressive Angler of the Year race as well. They enter this event in fourth and fifth place, respectively, 37 and 38 points behind leader Justin Hamner.
In the history of the Elite Series, only one rookie has contended for the Angler of the Year title. That occurred in the initial Elite Series season, 2006, when Steve Kennedy finished second to Mike Iaconelli.Thompkins, McKinney separated by a point for ROY
