Aug. 18, 2010
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Texas A&M senior Rachel Shipley was selected as a candidate for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, it was announced Wednesday.
The midfielder from Plano, Texas, was one of 30 women's soccer senior student-athletes chosen as a hopeful for the award. Shipley qualified based her notable achievements in four areas of excellence: classroom, character, community and competition. She was one of four student-athletes selected from the Big 12 Conference.
Shipley is a finance major with a 3.675 grade point average who is a three-time member of the Academic All-Big 12 first team and was an NSCAA/adidas Women's College Scholar All-American last season. She serves as the chairman from the Aggie soccer team for the Big Event and gives back to the community in many different ways.
Shipley has helped Texas A&M become a prominent national force, leading the Aggies to a Big 12 Championship and three straight NCAA Tournament berths, including two trips to the Sweet Sixteen and one to the Elite Eight. She has earned numerous athletic achievements in her career, highlighted by an All-Big 12 first team honor, three weekly conference awards and three all-region honors. Shipley was already named to the 2010 MAC's Hermann Trophy Watch List and was selected unanimously to the Preseason All-Big 12 Team. She also played with the U.S. U-23 Women's National Team in England this summer.
The 30-candidate classes 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 one female candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
"The nominations for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for soccer are traditionally strong in community service and academic excellence," said Tom Lamb, Lowe's senior vice president of marketing. "This year's candidate class reflects the strong sense of obligation these student-athletes have to their communities, their universities and their teammates and we are proud to recognize them for their excellence."
This marks the fourth year for the women's soccer division of the award.
Note - Former A&M soccer player Emily Peterson was the winner of the 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award.