April 19, 2011

NEWPORT NEWS, Va - The University of Dayton's campus Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is the winner of the first-ever Atlantic 10 Conference SAAC video competition, as announced Tuesday by the conference office. The winner was determined by an online fan vote on the official web site of the Atlantic 10, atlantic10.com, as well as a voting conducted by each school's respective SAAC organization.

Dayton called on the Flyer faithful and they responded in an impressive manner tallying 1,204 votes. The number accounted for 38% of all fan votes for the seven video entries. Temple, thanks in part to a late surge of votes, was second in the fan poll with 741 votes. Saint Louis finished third based on fan opinion, followed by George Washington, La Salle, Charlotte and Duquesne, respectively.

In the campus SAAC vote, the Flyers narrowly edged out the field to become the first-ever Atlantic 10 Conference SAAC Video Competition Champion. Jill Redmond, Atlantic 10 Director of Compliance and SAAC Administrator, organized the competition and hopes to make a SAAC Competition a conference wide initiative on a yearly basis.

"Competition is something that these student-athletes have become accustomed to, Redmond explained. "It's fun for the student-athletes but it's also a way to shine a light on all the hard work and meaningful initiatives that are going on at each of their campuses. Incorporating a fan vote was our way of making sure people outside of each institution's SAAC take notice of the outstanding work being done by these student-athletes."

The Atlantic 10 Conference SAAC conducted a "friendly" competition during the 2010-11 academic year which provided each institution the opportunity to use its creativity to display or promote student-athletes and their work on each respective campus. Specifically, the competition involved creating a video that promoted an NCAA or institutional core value (e.g., sportsmanship, sense of community, commitment to service, academic and athletic excellence), or an ideal that student-athletes are especially proud of or passionate about. There were a total of seven institutional entries for this first-ever competition.

About the A-10
The Atlantic 10 Conference was formed in 1976 and celebrates its 35th anniversary as a Division I Conference in 2010-11. Currently comprised of 14 member institutions and sponsoring 21 championship sports, the mission and goal of the Atlantic 10 is to preserve, protect, and enhance the academic and athletic pursuits of the membership. The conference is committed to integrity, educational excellence and providing quality equitable championship experiences for more than 6,000 student-athletes, coaches, and support staff. The member institutions of the Atlantic 10 are the University of Dayton, Duquesne University, Fordham University, The George Washington University, La Salle University, University of Massachusetts, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University of Rhode Island, University of Richmond, St. Bonaventure University, Saint Joseph's University, Saint Louis University, Temple University, and Xavier University.

Watch Dayton's winning video!