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Montgomery Candidate for Senior CLASS Award
January 05, 2017 04:41 PM | Women's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia University women’s basketball center Lanay Montgomery is one of 30 candidates for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award.
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.
Montgomery is the third Mountaineer to be named a candidate for this award, joining Liz Repella and Bria Holmes. Holmes and Repella were finalists for the award and earned Senior CLASS All-America Second Team honors.
“It is an honor to be named a candidate for this award,” Montgomery said. “It is also humbling to be only the third Mountaineer to be a candidate for this prestigious award. It is great feeling to be recognized in this manner and I am truly grateful.”
A native of Pittsburgh, Montgomery leads the Mountaineers with 9.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocked shots per game. Montgomery’s 70.9 field goal percentage (73-of-103) is also tops for WVU and is second in the Big 12 Conference. Montgomery ranks in the top-10 in four career categories at West Virginia. She is second at WVU and sixth all-time in the Big 12 with 283 career blocked shots. Montgomery ranks fifth at West Virginia with 267 offensive rebounds, ninth with 767 total rebounds and 10th with 6.9 rebounds per game.
Montgomery graduated with her bachelor’s degree in psychology in May 2016 and is pursuing a master’s degree in communications. She has been a Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and WVU Garrett Ford Academic Honor Roll recipient.
Montgomery has been very visible in the Monongalia County and Morgantown area the last four years. She has volunteered at the Bartlett House, which serves the homeless in the area. She has read to school children as part of the West Virginia University Read Aloud program. Additionally, Montgomery has cooked dinners for families that reside in the Ronald McDonald House of Morgantown. For the past two years, Montgomery has severed as a volunteer for the WVU Relay for Life. As someone who loves working with young children, Montgomery has volunteered at the WVU Child Learning center primarily working with preschool-aged children. She and her teammates handed out food to students and community members at the WVU Mobile Food Bank. She has also assisted with the Holiday Angel Tree Shopper Buddy program with helping young children find winter clothing items and toys for the holiday season.
On her own accord, Montgomery directed her teammates to provide water bottles and other supplies to those affected by the June 2016 floods in southern West Virginia. In addition to donating items to those affected, Montgomery and her teammates traveled to Rainelle, West Virginia on July 15, 2016 to assist with the cleanup effort. They gutted a house, which included removing everything from the floor to the interior walls.
Among the 60 men's and women's basketball candidates, all are in excellent academic standing with 10 having grade-point averages of 3.5 or higher. Five of this year’s candidates were 2015-16 CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-Americans®, and 20 returned to the court this season after receiving All-America honors for their performances a year ago. Each of the candidates also volunteers his or her time with charitable organizations and causes while upholding a reputation for positive character on campus and in the community.
Each of the 30 candidate classes will be narrowed to fields of 10 finalists in February, 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.
The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2017 NCAA Men’s Final Four® and NCAA Women’s Final Four® this spring. For more information on each of the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
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