OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Senior
Lizzy Wendell (Blue Springs, Mo.) of the Drake University women's basketball team has been selected as a candidate for the 2016-17 Senior CLASS award.
Wendell is one of sixty NCAA® men's and women's basketball student-athletes who excel both on and off the court and were selected as candidates for the prestigious award. 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: community, classroom, character and competition.
Wendell is having a great senior season helping lead Drake to a 9-4 overall record going into the second weekend of Missouri Valley Conference play. She is averaging 22.2 points per game, which leads the MVC and ranks seventh in the nation. Wendell is showing her versatility on the court, ranking among the league's top-5 in steals and assists at 3.0 and 3.2 per game, respectively, while also averaging 5.2 rebounds per game.
Wendell is an elementary education major who will student teach in the Des Moines area during the 2017 fall semester. She is on track to graduate from Drake in December, 2017. Wendell and her Bulldog teammates have completed more than 1,000 volunteer hours in each of her first three seasons and are on track to accomplish the community service initiative once again in 2016-17.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the 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.
Among the 60 candidates, all are in excellent academic standing with 10 having grade-point averages of 3.5 or higher. Five of this year's candidates were 2015-16 CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-Americans®, and 20 returned to the court this season after receiving All-America honors for their performances a year ago. Each of the candidates also volunteers his or her time with charitable organizations and causes while upholding a reputation for positive character on campus and in the community.
Each of the 30 candidate classes will be narrowed to fields of 10 finalists in February, 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 male candidate and one female candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2017 NCAA Men's Final Four® and NCAA Women's Final Four® this spring. For more information on each of the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CANDIDATES:
| Lindsay Allen |
Notre Dame |
Taylor McCarley |
UMBC |
| Evelyn Akhator |
Kentucky |
Lanay Montgomery |
West Virginia |
| Sophie Brunner |
Arizona State |
Adrienne Motley |
Miami |
| Nina Davis |
Baylor |
Kendall Noble |
Western Kentucky |
| Jessica Jackson |
Arkansas |
Ellen Nystrom |
Colorado State |
| Marissa Janning |
Creighton |
Kelsey Plum |
Washington |
| Jessica January |
DePaul |
Rosanna Reynolds |
Detroit Mercy |
| Seanna Johnson |
Iowa State |
Leticia Romero |
Florida State |
| Brionna Jones |
Maryland |
Elle Tinkle |
Gonzaga |
| Sigi Koizar |
Maine |
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough |
Maryland |
| Kari Korver |
UCLA |
Madison Weekly |
Northern Iowa |
| Kelsey Lang |
Texas |
Lizzy Wendell |
Drake |
| Breanna Lewis |
Kansas State |
Kindred Wesemann |
Kansas State |
| Marina Lizarazu |
Iona |
Sydney Wiese |
Oregon State |
| Erica McCall |
Stanford |
Ronni Williams |
Florida |
