Dec. 17, 2001

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest women's golf member junior Nuria Clau is one of eight nominees for the 2002 Socrates Award presented by Sporting News Radio and March of Dimes' National Athletic Awards. The third annual Socrates Award honors achievement by the best of our nation's student-athletes. The Award is presented annually to the college athlete who best exemplifies excellence in athletics and academics.

Go online at http://radio.sportingnews.com to vote for this year's Socrates Award winner. The voting will run through Dec. 26 and the finalist will be announced soon after.

Clau has a 3.77 GPA in Mathematical Business and has made the Dean's List four consecutive semesters. Her resume includes being named to the Division I All-Scholar Team for Academic Achievement in 2000-01, awarded the Arthur Ashe, Jr. Sport Scholar Award for Academic Achievement in 2000-01, named to the ACC Honor Roll for outstanding academic achievement in 1999-00 and 2000-01 and was named Wake Forest Women's Golf Most Valuable Player of the Year in 1999-00.

At the end of the 2001 fall season, Clau was ranked 19th nationally by golfweek.com after compiling three top 10 finishes and one top 20 finish. Her best finish of the fall season was second place at the Lady Paladin Invite with a score of 219. Clau has international experience as well, once the Spanish National Champion in 1999 and former member of Spain's World Cup team.

Her competitors include Courtney Choate, a New Mexico tennis player, Stacey Dales, an Oklahoma basketball player, Andre Davis, a Virginia Tech football player, Joaquin Gonzalez, a Miami football player, Zak Kustok, a Northwestern football player, Eli Manning, a Mississippi football player and Erica Perkins, a Washington State tennis player.

Last year's award winner was Ben Hamilton, a Minnesota football player.

For more information go to www.sportingnews.com.