Most Valuable Athlete: Emily Nichols

Name: Emily Nichols

School: St. Charles East, senior

Sport: Track

Why she was selected: Nichols captured two individual titles with victories in the 55 and 400 dashes at the DuKane Conference indoor meet. Nichols caught up with Chronicle sports reporter to discuss her indoor season and look ahead to outdoor. Below is an edited transcript.

Bartelson: How do you feel the indoor season went for you?

Nichols: I think it went really well. I definitely got faster from last year, which is good to see how I can compare my times from last year to this year. That was really exciting...My first 55 [dash event] was actually this indoor season, so that was pretty cool.

Bartelson: Going into outdoor, what's your outlook for this part of the season?

Nichols: I really want to help my team qualify for state, obviously that's the end goal and the bigger picture. I really want to qualify for 300 hurdles again and the 4x4. Hopefully, I make the finals for [both].

Bartelson: What's your college plan?

Nichols: I'm still deciding. I'm betwen Butler and St. Louis right now [and I'll run track, too]

Bartelson: From a team standpoint, what's your thought for the overall team going into outdoor?

Nichols: Honestly, our team is looking really strong this year. We have solid 400 runners and our team has gotten faster as a whole. We have some really good incoming freshmen on the distance side, too, so that's really exciting.