OVERLAND PARK, Kan. --- Sixty NCAA men's and women's soccer student-athletes who excel both on and off the field were selected as candidates Friday for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate soccer, and the Anteaters were represented with senior midfielder Kiana Palacios.

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. 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. Each of the 60 candidates has displayed a strong work ethic in the classroom and on the pitch with 30 having grade-point averages of 3.5 or higher and 12 being returning All-Americans. Outside of academics and athletics, all candidates also have been consistently involved in community service on their campus or in their communities.
 

Palacios joins CoCo Goodson as the second women's soccer candidate from UC Irvine. Goodson was a part of the 2011 candidates. An Anteater have been nominated as a candidate on six occasions prior to Palacios' inclusion. Three baseball student-athletes have been named two winning the award in Daniel Bibona in 2010 and Andrew Morales in 2014. Men's soccer has had two candidates with Andrew Fontein in 2011, who went on to become one of the 10 finalists, and Everett Pitts in 2012.

Each of the two 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 male candidate and one female candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition with the announcement of the Senior CLASS Award winner taking place during the 2017 NCAA Men's and Women's College Cup championships in December.

For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.