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Jenna Smith Among Candidates for Lowe's Senior CLASS Award
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Jenna Smith is now a preseason candidate for three major national awards.
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Nov. 4, 2009
Smith's Senior CLASS Award Profile Page
Complete List of Women's Basketball Lowe's Senior CLASS Award Candidates (PDF) 
OVERLAND PARK, KS - Sixty NCAA men's and women's basketball student-athletes who excel both on and off the court were tabbed as candidates today for the 2009-10 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Among the 30 women's candidates is Illinois senior center Jenna Smith, who is already a preseason candidate for the Wade Trophy and Wooden Award, as well as being a unanimous preseason first team All-Big Ten honoree.
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. 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.
Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS AwardTM winner for men's basketball at the 2010 NCAA Men's Final Four® in Indianapolis in April and for women's basketball at the 2010 NCAA Women's Final Four® in San Antonio in April.
The two lists of 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists each 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.
"Lowe's is proud to be associated with the nominees for the Senior CLASS AwardTM in men's and women's basketball," said Tom Lamb, Lowe's senior vice president of marketing. "Each of the student-athletes has shown tremendous commitment to their studies during their college careers. They have also demonstrated great character and a passion for community service."
This marks the ninth year for the basketball division of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. Previous winners of the men's basketball award include Juan Dixon of Maryland (2002), David West of Xavier (2003), Jameer Nelson of St. Joseph's (2004), Wayne Simien of Kansas (2005), J.J. Redick of Duke (2006), Alando Tucker of Wisconsin (2007), Shan Foster of Vanderbilt (2008) and Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina (2009). Past recipients of the women's award include Sue Bird of Connecticut (2002), LaToya Thomas of Mississippi State (2003), Alana Beard of Duke (2004), Kendra Wecker of Kansas State (2005), Seimone Augustus of LSU (2006), Alison Bales of Duke (2007), Candice Wiggins of Stanford (2008) and Courtney Paris of Oklahoma (2009).
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.
