Entering the 2025 Strike King Bassmaster College National Championship at Cherokee Lake presented Bass Pro Shops in sixth place in overall Team of the Year standings, Bryce Dimauro and Tripp Berlinsky didn’t think they’d have much of a chance at claiming the top spot.
It wasn’t until they took the Day 2 lead that they realized the unthinkable could potentially happen.
Although they did not win the National Championship, the sophomore duo from the University of North Alabama did win the overall Team of the Year race with 940 points, earning the $5,000 first-place prize and a prize pack from Johnson Outdoors.
“Tripp and I have been working for this all year,” Dimauro said. “We fell short in the Lunkers Trail at Lake Chickamauga, and that stung. To be able to come out and do this well at the National Championship and win Team of the Year was awesome.”
Along with the prize money, Dimauro and Berlinsky punched their tickets to the College Classic Bracket presented by Lew’s, details of which will be announced in the coming weeks.
“I don’t think it has hit us yet because of how big of an opportunity both of us will have,” Berlinsky said. “But we are stoked.”
Elisha Colley and Storm Clark from the University of Montevallo earned second place with 925 points followed by Max Heaton and John Michael Ortman from Emmanuel University in third with 917 points. Zach Helton and Blake Wheat from Carson-Newman finished fourth with 916 points and Lander’s Andrew Blanton and Garrett Smith earned fifth with 897 points.
All of this comes after a 2024 season that started with so much promise and ended with frustration for Berlinsky and Dimauro. After finishing second in their first College Series event ever at Lake Murray, they finished 152nd at Douglas Lake and 100th at Kentucky Lake, ending the season well outside of Team of the Year contention.
“That Lake Murray tournament was our first tournament together,” Berlinsky said. “We fell off after that. We weren’t learning quick enough. We really worked our butts off and put in a lot of hours to get to this point.”
The 2024 struggles showed Berlinsky and Dimauro their weaknesses, and the duo spent the fall season and every free moment of the spring season to improve their craft.
Opening the season with a ninth at Lake Okeechobee, the UNA team put themselves in contention for Lunkers Trail Team of the Year with an 11th-place finish at Buggs Island. A 40th-place finish at the final division event of the season at Lake Chickamauga, however, resulted in a third-place finish in Lunkers Trail points, missing out on a Classic Bracket spot by 21 points.
Along the way, they also collected second- and fourth-place finishes in other national championship events.
“Tripp and I have had a really great season. We fished our tails off,” Dimauro said.
Down 38 points in the overall Team of the Year race entering a stingy Cherokee Lake, Berlinsky and Dimauro thought there was only an outside chance they could claim the overall title. They quickly erased the deficit by landing 18-14 and claiming second on Day 1. They took the lead on Day 2 before falling to fourth on the final day, but it turned out to be plenty to hoist the trophies.
Now, Berlinsky and Dimauro will fish individually in the Classic Bracket for a chance to qualify for the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour. They will be joined by Wheat and Helton (Lunkers Trail Team of the Year), Legends Trail Team of the Year Grant Prursifull and Ben Burns and National Champions Andrew Blanton and Garrett Smith.
“I’m really looking forward to it,and I’m thankful for the opportunity we’ve gotten,” Dimauro said.
