OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – VMI lacrosse senior midfielder John O’Donnell was named one of 30 NCAA men’s lacrosse candidates for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award announced Monday.
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. It is considered to be one of the most prestigious awards in collegiate athletics.
"I am so happy and proud that John is receiving this recognition," said VMI head coach Jon Birsner. "The CLASS Award has truly become the highest student-athlete recognition you can achieve in college. John will go down as one of the best student-athletes to ever attend VMI and we’re all excited to support him on this CLASS award journey the rest of spring."
The 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists later in the 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 candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.
The winner will be announced in conjunction with the 2019 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse National Championship slated from May 25-27 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
For more information on all the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
2019 NCAA Lacrosse Senior CLASS Candidates
Matt Borges, Ohio State
Tate Boyce, Providence
Jason Brewster, UMBC
Ian Burgoyne, Navy
James Burr, Boston
Jonathan Butler, Harvard
Craig Chick, Lehigh
Ryan Conrad, Virginia
Marcus Cunningham, Syracuse
Max Edelmann, Rutgers
Mark Ellis, Hofstra
Tyson Gibson, Robert Morris
Zach Goodrich, Towson
Colton Jackson, Denver
Nate Jones, Army
Timmy Kelly, North Carolina
Logan Maccani, Ohio State
Reed Malas, Bucknell
Jake McCulloch, Cornell
Austin Meacham, Dartmouth
John O'Donnell, Virginia Military Institute
Andrew Pettit, Lehigh
Noah Richard, Marquette
Chris Sabia, Penn State
Pat Spencer, Loyola (MD)
Jacob Stover, Loyola (MD)
Johnny Surdick, Army
Jack Tigh, Yale
Matthew Vangalen, Detroit Mercy
John Wagner, Marquette