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 today for the 2019 Senior CLASS Award® in collegiate soccer, and Anteater Aleah Kelley made the cut as the lone representative from the Big West Conference.

Aleah's Senior CLASS Award profile

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.

Kelley is the third student-athlete from the program to be named a candidate and fifth UC Irvine soccer player. Kiana Palacios was the most recent in 2017, and CoCo Goodson kicked things off as a candidate in 2011.

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.

More info on the Senior CLASS Award

Each of the 60 candidates has displayed a strong work ethic in the classroom and on the pitch. Outside of academics and athletics, all candidates also have been consistently involved in community service on their campus or in their communities.

The class of candidates classes will be narrowed from 30 to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches, and fans, who will select one 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 2019 NCAA Men's and Women's College Cup® championships in December.