Murray State University Athletics
Amber Guffey Among Two OVC Candidates' for Lowe's Senior CLASS Award
12/20/2008 6:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Murray State's Amber Guffey and Eastern Illinois' Rachel Galligan are two of 30 senior female NCAA college basketball players were announced today as candidates for the 2008-09 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, presented annually to an NCAA Division I student-athlete in nine sports. Based on criteria focusing on the “Four C's” of classroom, character, community and competition, the award winners will be selected by national balloting of head basketball coaches, national media and college basketball fans.
"Amber being nominated for this award is a reflection of the character that she portrays both on and off the court," said head coach Rob Cross. "Since this award is based on the overall character of a student-athlete it is a great honor for her to be nominated."
Lowe's, an official corporate
partner of the NCAA, will present the winners with trophies during the weekends
of the respective NCAA Men's and Women's Final Four. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty
and Achievement for Staying in School, the award was launched during the 2001-02
season to honor the attributes of college basketball seniors who remain
committed to their university and pursue the many rewards that a senior season
and complete college education brings.
All 30 female award candidates hail
from a different university. While 18 conferences are included among the list
of nominees, the Big 12 Conference again landed the most with five female
candidates.
Schools that placed both a male and
female student-athlete on the roster of candidates include
“At Lowe's, we take pride in
acknowledging hard work and outstanding accomplishments both on and off the
court,” said Bob Gfeller, Lowe's senior vice president of marketing and
advertising. “That commitment extends beyond our employees and customers and
into the communities we serve where these student-athletes become real-life
mentors. We're thrilled to honor each candidate's contributions and look
forward to recognizing the award recipients at the men's and women's Final
Four.”
From each of the two lists of 30
nominees, a national media committee will select 10 finalists for the Lowe's
Senior CLASS Award in February 2009. Those 10 names will be placed on the
official ballot for a nationwide vote. In addition to voting by Division I head
basketball coaches and national media, college basketball fans will also be able
to submit ballots by text voting or on-line at http://www.seniorclassaward.com.
The award was conceived by
sportscaster Dick Enberg, who continues to serve as Honorary Chairman. It was
inspired by the remarkable story of former
The Lowe's Senior CLASS Award is in
its eighth year for men's and women's basketball. Previous winners of the men's
award include Juan Dixon of
Recipients of the women's award
include Sue Bird of
