Hunter Nichols, second from left, runs during the semifinals of the 1,000 meters at the NAIA Indoor Track & Field Championships in March 2021 in Yankton, South Dakota. Nichols attends Eastern Oregon University, and the College Sports Information Directors of America selected the 2019 Heppner High graduate as a second-team academic All-American.

LA GRANDE — Hunter Nichols kept getting texts congratulating him. For what, he didn’t know. A couple of days later, his coach at Eastern Oregon University let Nichols know he was named a College Sports Information Directors of America — or CoSIDA — second-team academic All-American. “I was was out on fires and I didn’t know what they were talking about,” said Nichols, a 2019 graduate of Heppner High School. “The school hadn’t told me. I think it’s cool. Finally, all the hard work pays off. Everyone always sees your name for sports. It’s all the behind the scenes stuff they never see. It pays off a little more when people see it.” To qualify, student-athletes must have a minimum 3.30 GPA to be nominated, and should be a significant contributor to their teams. Nichols, who is studying biology, has a 3.83 GPA. He was named to the U.S. Bank All-Academic Team in both cross-country and track and field for the 2020-21 academic year. He was also named to the CoSIDA academic all-district first team. Nichols was a top-two runner for the Mountaineers’ cross-country team, and he qualified for the NAIA indoor nationals in the 1,000 meters. He earned All-American honors in March by finishing fifth at nationals with a time of 2 minutes, 32.51 seconds. During the outdoor season, Nichols placed second in the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships in the 800 and 1,500, helping EOU win the CCC outdoor title. He qualified for the NAIA track and field national meet in the 800, where he placed 14th. Nichols, who has been fighting fires all summer, said he is ready to get back to running. “I had a really good start to my summer running,” he said. “Then the fires started. I haven’t done much since.” Nichols, who will be a junior at EOU, has not been in the midst of the smoke and flames. He has been operating the heavy equipment to make fire breaks. He spent nearly three weeks on the Bootleg Fire in Southern Oregon, and Thursday, Aug. 12, he was headed to the fire outside of Dayton, Washington. “I haven’t seen a frickin’ flame,” he said. “I’m operating the heavy equipment, that’s where the money is. I have had all sorts of work experience in the past 4-5 years and none of it applies to medical school.”

LA GRANDE — Hunter Nichols kept getting texts congratulating him. For what, he didn’t know.

A couple of days later, his coach at Eastern Oregon University let Nichols know he was named a College Sports Information Directors of America — or CoSIDA — second-team academic All-American.

“I was was out on fires and I didn’t know what they were talking about,” said Nichols, a 2019 graduate of Heppner High School. “The school hadn’t told me. I think it’s cool. Finally, all the hard work pays off. Everyone always sees your name for sports. It’s all the behind the scenes stuff they never see. It pays off a little more when people see it.”

To qualify, student-athletes must have a minimum 3.30 GPA to be nominated, and should be a significant contributor to their teams.

Nichols, who is studying biology, has a 3.83 GPA.

He was named to the U.S. Bank All-Academic Team in both cross-country and track and field for the 2020-21 academic year. He was also named to the CoSIDA academic all-district first team.

Nichols was a top-two runner for the Mountaineers’ cross-country team, and he qualified for the NAIA indoor nationals in the 1,000 meters. He earned All-American honors in March by finishing fifth at nationals with a time of 2 minutes, 32.51 seconds.

During the outdoor season, Nichols placed second in the Cascade Collegiate Conference Championships in the 800 and 1,500, helping EOU win the CCC outdoor title.

He qualified for the NAIA track and field national meet in the 800, where he placed 14th.

Nichols, who has been fighting fires all summer, said he is ready to get back to running.

“I had a really good start to my summer running,” he said. “Then the fires started. I haven’t done much since.”

Nichols, who will be a junior at EOU, has not been in the midst of the smoke and flames. He has been operating the heavy equipment to make fire breaks.

He spent nearly three weeks on the Bootleg Fire in Southern Oregon, and Thursday, Aug. 12, he was headed to the fire outside of Dayton, Washington.

“I haven’t seen a frickin’ flame,” he said. “I’m operating the heavy equipment, that’s where the money is. I have had all sorts of work experience in the past 4-5 years and none of it applies to medical school.”