{"id":32818,"date":"2017-04-04T11:10:20","date_gmt":"2017-04-04T15:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=32818"},"modified":"2017-04-04T11:22:53","modified_gmt":"2017-04-04T15:22:53","slug":"breakout-track-star-new-american-hannah-nichols-dances-challenges-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/breakout-track-star-new-american-hannah-nichols-dances-challenges-college\/","title":{"rendered":"All-American Hannah Nichols &#8216;dances with&#8217; the challenges of college"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) first-year Hannah Nichols did not find running; running found her. One day the athletic director at Chancellor High School in Fredericksburg pulled her out of chemistry class.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was like, \u2018Why are you playing softball?\u2019\u201d Nichols recounted, laughing at the memory. He suggested she go out for track. That was her junior year of high school, and she has been running ever since.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_32821\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32821\" style=\"width: 200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/04\/breakout-track-star-new-american-hannah-nichols-dances-challenges-college\/nichols-all-american\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-32821\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-32821 size-medium\" src=\"\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Nichols-All-American-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Nichols-All-American-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Nichols-All-American-768x1154.jpg 768w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Nichols-All-American-682x1024.jpg 682w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32821\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hannah Nichols finished sixth in the 800m at D-III Nationals Indoor Track Championships. (Photo by DIIIPhotography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Nichols has already made her mark on the EMU <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/wtrack\/index\">track and field program<\/a>. She finished her indoor track season with a trip to the national meet, earning a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/wtrack\/2016-17\/releases\/20170310vx8lxk\">sixth place All-American finish<\/a> in the 800m.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was just absolutely exhilarating,\u201d Nichols said, \u201cbecause I just didn\u2019t think it was going to happen at all.\u201d She went into the qualifying race knowing she would have to drop four seconds to have a chance of making it to nationals; in the 800, which is essentially an all-out sprint, four seconds is a lot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just went for it,\u201d Nichols said, going on to describe the incredible excitement and disbelief she and her coach shared after she crossed the line. And she\u2019s not stopping now; she has new goals for outdoor track. She hopes to run the 800 in 2:10, which would beat her current personal record by three seconds and smash the school record.<\/p>\n<p>Nichols has impressed her head track coach, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emuroyals.com\/sports\/mxc\/coaches\/index\">Isaac Bryan<\/a>. He had high expectations and knew that she could develop a lot throughout the year. Even so, she has surpassed these expectations. \u201cFor her to be All-American as a freshman is super, super rare,\u201d Bryan said. \u201cI keep trying not to put limits on her because she keeps surprising me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Being an All-American collegiate athlete isn\u2019t all fun and games, though. When asked her least favorite part of running, Nichols chuckled ruefully.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh gosh, just one?\u201d she said. \u201cThe sleep loss, probably &#8230; I could complain about a lot, but I still wouldn\u2019t give it up.\u201d Her favorite events include the mile and the 800. \u201cI hate the 400,\u201d she said. \u201cMake sure you put that in there. Just thinking about it gives me anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nichols ran the 400m at last weekend\u2019s meet at Lynchburg, winning handily by over half a second and earning the third best time in EMU history.<\/p>\n<p>Currently a double major in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/business\/accounting\/\">accounting<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/business\/administration\/\">business administration<\/a>, she is exploring other options. This semester she is in &#8220;Exploring Teaching&#8221; and Spanish. \u201cMaybe I\u2019ll just drop out of college,\u201d she mused, \u201c and join the Peace Corps.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In her free time, when she\u2019s not munching on raw sweet potatoes or cutting hair \u2014 her friends\u2019 and her own \u2014 Nichols loves to scroll through Pinterest. She finds herself lost in the household appliance pages. \u201cToasters, and screwdrivers, and keyboards &#8230; it\u2019s all so interesting. They have holograms for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She also enjoys spending time with friends and watching A<em>vatar<\/em>. \u201cYip yip,\u201d she said. \u201cThe people who watch <em>Avatar<\/em> will get it.\u201d Her perfect Saturday includes sleeping in late, jamming out to &#8217;60s rock, and eating an English muffin. \u201cWithout butter,\u201d she specified, \u201cand with grape jelly, and pomegranate juice on the side.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_32820\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-32820\" style=\"width: 240px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/04\/breakout-track-star-new-american-hannah-nichols-dances-challenges-college\/hannah-3\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-32820\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-32820\" src=\"\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Hannah-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Hannah-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2017\/04\/Hannah.jpg 758w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-32820\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Track All-American Hannah Nichols take a break from running and studies to share a light-hearted moment with Weather Vane photographer Aaron Dunmore.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201c[Hannah] embraces and even longs for any type of change in her life,\u201d said first-year Abigail Shelly, also a member of the track team. \u201cI feel like this is the greatest contributor to her resiliency. She is ready for anything that may come her way, and instead of \u2018facing it,\u2019 she kind of dances with it, appreciating the nuances it brings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In this same vein, Nichols also loves to rearrange her room, something she does at least once a week. \u201cThings are moving,\u201d she said. \u201cI love change. Can\u2019t get enough of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And things certainly are moving for this first-year All-American track star.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article was first published in the March 30, 2017, edition of the Weather Vane.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) first-year Hannah Nichols did not find running; running found her. One day the athletic director at Chancellor High School in Fredericksburg pulled her out of chemistry <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/breakout-track-star-new-american-hannah-nichols-dances-challenges-college\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about All-American Hannah Nichols &#8216;dances with&#8217; the challenges of college<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17562,5732,5733,4513,14139],"tags":[],"feature":[17427,17426,17241],"class_list":["post-32818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digest","category-indoor-track","category-outdoor-track","category-student-life","category-student-profiles","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>All-American Hannah Nichols &#039;dances with&#039; the challenges of college - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/breakout-track-star-new-american-hannah-nichols-dances-challenges-college\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"All-American Hannah Nichols &#039;dances with&#039; the challenges of college - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) first-year Hannah Nichols did not find running; running found her. 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