BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Austin Skakle of Campbell University is among sixty NCAA men's and women's soccer student-athletes who excel both on and off the field and were tabbed as candidates for the 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award in the two soccer divisions. 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. The complete list of candidates follows this release.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School^TM, 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.

A senior defender from Cary, (N.C.) High School, Skakle has a 3.74 grade point average as a biology/pre-med major. He was named to the Academic All-District 3 men's soccer University division second team (2008) by the College Sports Information Directors of America (District 3 includes all NCAA Division I schools in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia).

"Austin embodies everything you want in a student-athlete, from who he is character-wise to his mentality on a training field to his approach in the classroom," said eighth-year Campbell head coach Doug Hess.  "What I appreciate most with Austin is that he only knows one way to do things, and that is all out.  I know I can always rely on his best effort no matter what we are doing. On top of all of that, Austin is an exceptional person."

A three-time member of the Atlantic Sun Conference All-Academic Team, Skakle was presented Campbell's Eric Brodin Award for Academic Excellence for the 2008 season. He was a Presidential Academic Scholarship recipient and earned President's List honors in each of his last four semesters, and Dean's List honors once. He is also a member of the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society.

Character

Skakle was presented Campbell's Coaches Award for the 2008 season. He is active in community and church projects. He is a member of Campbell University's Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Community

Skakle was heavily involved in community service projects for the last three years and will be so again this year, including Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child and the Red Cross Blood Drive. He is a volunteer with Grace Community Church, Relay for Life, Think Pink, Operation In-as-much, Buies Creek Elementary School Fall Festival, Coats Elementary School Fall Festival and soccer clinics.

Competition

Skakle is a three-year starter in the defense for Campbell, which won the 2008 Atlantic Sun regular-season championship with a 9-0-0 league record and finished the 2008 season with a 14-6-0 overall record, a No. 25 national ranking by Soccer America and a No. 3 rating in the South Region. He was in the starting 11 each time during Campbell's school-record 12-game winning streak, including a 2-0 victory over seventh-ranked North Carolina. Skakle helped lead Campbell to the best team goals-against average (0.99) and the most shutouts (9) in the Atlantic Sun Conference. He has played in 48 career games with 40 starts. He has helped Campbell build an 18-3-4 record in A-Sun regular-season games over the past three years. He was a starter for the 2007 Campbell team which won the A-Sun tournament championship and claimed the school's first-ever NCAA Men's College Cup bid in 2007.

The 2009 candidate class of 60 includes 10 student-athletes who were named Scholar All-Americans by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America in 2008. Four of the 60 have maintained a cumulative grade point average of 4.00. Twenty-one candidates represent teams ranked in the preseason top 25 men's and women's polls. And 13 of the 60 candidates are on the preseason watch list for the Hermann Trophy, awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the top male and female Division I soccer players in the country at the end of the season.

Lowe's, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA, will announce the Senior CLASS Award winners during the 2009 NCAA Men's and Women's College Cup championships in early December.

Each of 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 male candidate and one female candidate who best exemplify excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community and competition. 

"Lowe's is proud to be associated with the nominees for the Senior CLASS Award in soccer," said Bob Gfeller, Lowe's senior vice president of marketing and advertising. "Each of the student-athletes has shown tremendous commitment to their studies during their college careers. They have also demonstrated great character and a passion for community service."

This marks the third year for the men's and women's soccer division of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, and more than 175 student-athletes were nominated this year. Wake Forest University midfielder Sam Cronin received the men's award for the 2008 season, while Kerri Hanks from the University of Notre Dame won the women's award.