Jackson named candidate for Senior CLASS Award

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Forward Niki Jackson has been selected as a candidate for the Senior CLASS Award the organization announced on Friday morning. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award honors the attributes of senior student-athletes in four areas: community, classroom, character and competition.

Jackson is one of 30 men's soccer candidates for the award which will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season. 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 forward from Scottsdale is in his fourth season at GCU and is the school's most decorated Division I soccer player. A year ago, Jackson scored 16 goals in 18 matches, a scoring rate that ranked third in the country.

Jackson's credentials for the award's four categories are listed below:

Classroom

In the classroom, Niki Jackson is on pace to graduate this year with a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Economics. For his career he has a 3.12 cumulative GPA. Following the 2016 fall semester, Jackson was named to the Western Athletic Conference All-Academic Team for his performance in the classroom.

Character

Throughout his time at GCU, Jackson has emerged as a leader on his team. Including this school year, Jackson has served as the team's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) representative, serving as the collective voice of his team to provide input on student-athlete experience at Grand Canyon.

Community

Jackson—along with several of his teammates—has been active in the community throughout his time at GCU. There are a number of charities through which Jackson has volunteered his time yearly. First, Jackson has volunteered at the Phoenix Foster Children's Carnival at a park in downtown Phoenix. Jackson and teammates encourage the foster children by playing games, motivating them while they kick goals and handing out gear. Jackson has also volunteered at the GCU Run to Fight Children's Cancer, which takes place on campus every year. Jackson and teammates help with the organization of the event while also cheering race participants as they near the finish line.

Competition

Jackson's accolades speak for themselves. In 2016, the forward was named the Western Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year. In 18 matches, Jackson scored 16 goals for a goals per game average (0.89) that ranked third in the nation. Heading into his senior campaign in 2017, Jackson was named to the MAC Hermann Preseason Watch List for the top collegiate soccer player in the U.S. As of nomination time, Jackson had scored 31 career goals for GCU.

Men's Soccer Finalists

Marcos Arroyo, Army West Point	Joonas Jokinen, Temple	James Haupt, Dayton
Will Bagrou, Mercer	Nate Kohl, Ohio State	Tomas Hilliard-Arce, Stanford
Jon Bakero, Wake Forest	Tim Kubel, Louisville	Paul Hoffmeister, Utah Valley
Josh Castellanos, North Florida	Foster Langsdorf, Stanford	Niki Jackson, Grand Canyon
Mauro Cichero, SMU	Grant Lillard, Indiana	Mark Jecewiz, Providence
Fraser Colmer, Radford	Scout Monteith, Lipscomb	Kevin Politz, Wake Forest
Jalen Crisler, Gonzaga	Tyler Moorman, Detroit Mercy	William Pyle, South Carolina
Meshack Eshun Addy, Hofstra	Timmy Mueller, Oregon State	Jake Rozhansky, Maryland
Jimmy Fiscus, Michigan State	Wyatt Omsberg, Dartmouth	Drew Skundrich, Stanford
Mamadou Guirassy, NJIT	Afonso Pinheiro, Albany	Milorad Sobot, Siena

Grand Canyon University Athletics

Classroom

Character

Community

Competition

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Niki Jackson

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