Feb. 10, 2010
LAS VEGAS -
2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award Release 
UNLV senior Marissa Nichols (Diamond Bar, Calif.) has been named a candidate for the 2010 Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, which honors senior student-athletes who excel both on and off the field. Nichols is one of 30 NCAA Division I softball players up for the award that recognizes notable achievements in four areas of excellence - classroom, character, community and competition.
Nichols, who is in her sixth year at UNLV, has overcome numerous injuries and setbacks since her All-American freshman campaign in 2005. Nichols nearly re-wrote the UNLV single-season record books in her first year, as she set new marks in runs, hits, home runs, total bases and stolen bases, while finishing highly in batting average, doubles, triples, RBI, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. Besides being selected as an All-Mountain West Conference honoree, she set the league record for Player of the Week selections with six. She was tabbed UNLV's Sports Woman of the Year in 2005.
After missing nearly 2.5 years of action, she returned to the field in 2009 for another all-conference performance. She led the Rebels in walks, stolen bases and game-winning runs, while finishing second or third in home runs, total bases, slugging percentage, runs, hits and doubles.
Nichols graduated from UNLV in 2008 with a degree in human services counseling and is currently in her second year of master's work for school counseling. Scholastically, she has been one of the best performers in the classroom for UNLV. She has been named four times to the academic all-conference team and twice as a MWC Scholar-Athlete. In 2009, she was chosen to ESPN The Magazine's Academic All-District Team.
She has been involved in numerous student organizations while at UNLV. She is the president for the Student Organization of Addiction Professionals (SOAP), which provides counseling services to citizens of the Las Vegas area who are in need of services for different addictions. She is the chairperson of the UNLV Chi Sigma Iota Honor Society (UNLV's Omega Alpha Chapter), which is an international honor society that values academic and professional excellence in counseling. She has served on UNLV's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) for two years.
In the community, she has logged over 700 hours in internships serving as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor and School Counselor. Besides her hours spent at schools and hospitals, she has also volunteered in numerous more organizations, reading weeks, programs, blood drives and cancer runs.
An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in SchoolTM, the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
The 30 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 finalist who best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of classroom, character, community and competition.
For more information and the full list of 30 candidates, you may go to 2010 Lowe's Senior Class Award website.
