STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford senior defender Brian Nana-Sinkam was one of 30 NCAA men's soccer student-athletes selected as a candidate for the 2016 Senior CLASS Award® it was announced Friday.
To be eligible for the award, student-athletes must be classified as NCAA Division I seniors 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 athletic platforms to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The candidates 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 who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition. The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2016 NCAA Men's and Women's College Cup® championships in December.
Stanford has done well recently as far as the Senior CLASS Award is concerned. Last season, Brandon Vincent was named a Senior CLASS Award Second Team All-American in addition to being selected as the Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
One of 27 Stanford student-athletes majoring in product design, Nana-Sinkam has been a two-time Pac-12 all-academic selection. Among a number of extracurriculars, he is an associate in the Stanford Marketing Group, a mentorship program participant in the Stanford Biomedical Engineering Society and was one of 300 in the country chosen for the 2016 Management Leadership for Tomorrow Career Prep Program, an 18-month professional development program for high-achieving, diverse talent.
A Cardinal co-captain this season, Nana-Sinkam plays an active role in service projects in and around Stanford. He helps to organize events between the AYSO VIP (Very Important Players) Green Giants team and the Stanford men's soccer team. He's also on the Stanford Athletics Cardinal Council, which brought together 23 Stanford teams for an annual Date Auction, raising over $4,500 for Camp Kesem, which offers recreational camps in the United States for children of parents with cancer.
Additionally, Nana-Sinkam is a creative consultant for The Releaf Group, a non-profit organization that connects Nigerian entrepreneurs in the agricultural industry with the talent of the African diaspora in the United States and United Kingdom to drive the Nigerian economy and catalyze the African Renaissance. His role in the organization has been to create meaningful brand recognition and develop beneficial relationships both in the U.S. and in West Africa to expand the group's network and drive its mission.
On the field, the senior has started at center back in each of the 51 matches he has appeared over the past three seasons and been a driving force behind one of the nation's top defensive teams over that span. Stanford has a 0.73 goals against average since 2014. Last season, the Cardinal surrendered just 15 goals, its lowest total since 2001 (13), and finished sixth nationally in goals against average (0.62), the sixth-best mark in program history.
Nana-Sinkam's one career goal came in a game at Cal on Nov. 16, 2014 and helped Stanford clinch its first Pac-12 Championship since 2001. He's also notched the first two assists of his career in the Cardinal's last four matches.
Stanford (5-2-3, 2-0-0) is coming off a 1-0 win at No. 16 Washington on Thursday night, its first win over the Huskies in Seattle since 2006. The two-time defending league champion Cardinal has started its Pac-12 schedule with consecutive wins for the first time since 2002.
Stanford closes out its swing through the Pacific Northwest at Oregon State (4-4-3, 0-1-2) on Sunday at 11 a.m. Rich Burk and Christopher Sullivan will have the call from Corvallis on Pac-12 Bay Area and Pac-12 Oregon.