Woman of the Year Heidi Nichols '98 becomes the first Ithaca student-athlete ever awarded this prestigious state honor. The National Collegiate Athletic Association recently named May graduate Heidi Nichols as one of 51 state-level winners (including the District of Columbia) of its woman of the year award, which honors female student-athletes who have excelled in academics, athletics, and community leadership. Nichols is of one of the finest student-athletes ever to attend Ithaca College, according to head volleyball coach Janet Donovan. "I’ve never had an athlete with such a great work ethic and drive," says Donovan. "She has the desire to take every-thing in; she would often receive additional coaching from the assis-tant coach and me." Now studying law at St. Louis University, Nichols carried a 3.64 overall grade point average as a sociology major. A multisport star, she was an American Volleyball Coaches Association and Asics first-team all-American in 1996 and 1997. A GTE academic all-American in both volleyball and track, she was also the 1998 Eastern College Athletic Conference indoor high jump champion and the New York State Collegiate Track Conference outdoor high jump cham-pion. As if all that weren’t enough, she lettered in basketball as well. The 51 state winners were chosen from more than 400 nominees. "Heidi is the first NCAA woman picked from Ithaca [College]," Donovan says. "I don’t see anyone breaking her records for a very long time."