Feb. 10, 2010

Overland Park, Kan.— Army’s Andrew Maisano and Bucknell’s Scott Monfort are among twenty NCAA men’s lacrosse student-athletes who were tabbed as candidates for the 2010 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award on Tuesday. 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, 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. 

Monfort has appeared in 36 games with the Bison. He has been used primarily as a long-stick defensive midfielder, but he has also been relied upon as a close defender. He was one of the leaders of a defensive unit that ranked 12th in the nation in scoring defense and fifth in man-down defense in 2009. A native of Worthington, Ohio, Monfort is a chemical engineering major. With a 3.80 grade-point-average, he has the highest GPA on the team.

A native of Lakeview, N.Y., Maisano holds a 4.0 GPA in systems engineering. Maisano started all 16 games as a junior, finishing with 13 points and eight goals. He scored two goals, including the game-winner, to cap a seven-goal rally in the Black Knights’ 13-12 win over Lafayette a year ago.

Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the 2010 Senior CLASS Award winner at the NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore May 29-31.

The 20 candidates 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 finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community and competition. 

“The lacrosse candidates represent a diverse cross-section of universities and a wide array of academic courses of study,” said Tom Lamb, Lowe’s senior vice president of marketing. “But the common denominator is a passion for their sport and for finishing their careers as students and athletes at the top.”