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. Six MVC student-athletes are on the list.

Dodie Dunson, Gd., Bradley University
Adam Koch, Fwd., University of Northern Iowa
Josh Young, Gd., Drake University

Maggie Krick, Gd., Illinois State University
Kelsey Luna, Gd., Indiana State University
Jenny Van Kirk, Fwd., Bradley University

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.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School^TM, 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 25 players on the preseason watch lists for the men's and women's John R. Wooden Award, eight men's players who are candidates for the AT&T Naismith Trophy, 11 women's players who are preseason favorites for the State Farm Wade Trophy and three men's and women's players who finished their junior seasons as all-Americans. There are four players recognized last year as ESPN The Magazine Academic All-Americans. Eleven men's players are from teams ranked in the preseason top 25 poll; while 11 women represent teams ranked in the top 25 women's preseason poll. Of the 60 candidates, 13 have cumulative grade point averages of 3.5 or higher and three have maintained perfect 4.0 GPAs during their collegiate academic careers.

Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award^TM 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.

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 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award news release continued 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 School^TM, 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.