Lowe's Senior CLASS Award Names 30 NCAA' Student-Athletes to the 2010 Softball Candidate Class
2/10/2010 4:10:00 PM | Softball
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- Thirty NCAA® softball student-athletes who excel both on and off the field were for the 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award announced today (February 10). To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition. Eagle infielder Nina Iduate (Norcross, Ga.) has been named as one of the 30 candidates eligible for the award. The complete list of candidates is available as a link at the top of this article.
A two-time selection to the All-Southern Conference first team, Iduate carries a 3.65 cumulative grade point average in mathematics and was named an ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District Second Team member and a National Fastpitch Coaches Association Scholar-Athlete. She has volunteered for numerous community efforts and was identified by Georgia Southern Head Coach Maggie Johnson as a leader and role model.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in SchoolTM, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
This year's candidate class includes 10 student-athletes on teams ranked in the USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) preseason top 25 poll and 10 players who finished the 2009 season as Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Americans. Five candidates were on the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-America team in 2009. Nineteen of the candidates carry a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or better.
Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS AwardTM winner at the NCAA Women's College World Series® in June. The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community and competition.
"These young women are committed to their studies and to their teams' success on the diamond," said Tom Lamb, Lowe's senior vice president of marketing. "They also have consistently contributed to important service projects in their communities, making their collegiate experiences that much richer."
This marks the fourth year for the softball division of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. University of Florida pitcher Stacey Nelson received the award for the 2009 season and Virginia Tech pitcher Angela Tincher took home the 2008 honor. In 2007, University of Arizona outfielder Caitlin Lowe won the inaugural softball award.
ABOUT THE AWARD
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in SchoolTM, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award honors the attributes of senior student-athletes in four areas: classroom, community, character and competition.
The award program is designed exclusively for college seniors who are utilizing their complete athletic eligibility, remaining committed to their university and pursuing the many rewards that a senior season can bring. Sportscaster Dick Enberg, Honorary Chairman of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, first conceived the idea of an award for seniors in 2001 in response to the growing trend of men's basketball players leaving school early for the NBA. The award program has expanded the past two years to include a total of nine NCAA® Division I sports -football, men's and women's soccer, men's ice hockey, men's lacrosse, baseball and softball in addition to men's and women's basketball. The award is sponsored by Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA®, and managed by Premier Sports Management. For more information, visit www.seniorCLASSaward.com.
ABOUT LOWE'S
With fiscal year 2008 sales of $48.2 billion, Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a FORTUNE® 50 company that serves approximately 14 million customers a week at more than 1,675 home improvement stores in the United States and Canada. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe's is the second-largest home improvement retailer in the world. For more information, visit Lowes.com.
ABOUT THE NCAA
The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletics opportunities for more than 400,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit www.NCAA.org and www.NCAA.com for more details about the Association.
