THIBODAUX – Over 200 Colonel student-athletes were honored on Tuesday evening, as the Nicholls Athletics Department held the 12th Annual Athletics Awards Banquet at the Envie Restaurant Banquet Facility in Thibodaux.

Participants and letterwinners received gifts from their respective head coaches, while selected players from each sport received special team awards. The athletics department also handed out seven awards to certain student-athletes who were nominated by their head coach and voted upon by an awards committee.

The first award presented on the night was the Norman Swanner Community Service Award, which is given to a senior who has a minimum grade point average of a 2.5 and was nominated by his/her coach for his significant involvement in the community. The 2011 recipient of this award was senior women's basketball player, Cassie Hearon. Hearon, who served as president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, organized various community service activities for all athletes, one of which being the Christmas Toy Drive. The student-athletes held a Christmas Party for families with special needs and provided the children with Christmas presents. Our recipient also participated in the Bayouland Families Helping Families Fun Day, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and served as a weekly tutor at a local junior high school.

Freshman guard KK Babin was presented the Freshman Female Student-Athlete of the Year Award. Babin was selected as the Louisiana Freshman of the Year in Women's basketball by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, and completed her rookie year by finishing second on the team in scoring, assists, and steals.  She led the team in three-point field goals made and minutes per game. She also ranked in the top 10 in the Southland Conference in four different categories. For her efforts, she was selected as the Freshman of the Year in the conference.

The Freshman Male Student-Athlete of the Year Award was given to football player Jordan Hanberry. A member of both the NSU Honors Program, as well as the Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society, Hanberry started four games for the Colonels in the defensive secondary, and was a participant in all 11 games. He collected 50 tackles for the season, which placed him third on the team in this category. He also had three and a half tackles behind the line of scrimmage, one interception, recovered one fumble, and blocked a kick. For is accomplishments, he was selected Honorable Mention All-Southland Conference.

Receiving the Female Student-Athlete of the Year Award was senior soccer player, Kaity Mattsson. Mattsson led the Colonel soccer team in seven different categories this past season, including points, and goals scored. She finished the season with a 0.7 goals per game average, which placed her 13th in the nation. Her 33 career goals and 60 career points are new school records. She also set school records for most goals in a season, most points in a season, and the most hat tricks. She was chosen Honorable Mention All-Conference for her play on the field; and Second Team Academic All-Conference for her work in the classroom.

Senior Patrick Dolan was presented the Male Student-Athlete of the Year Award. A punter for this year's football team, Dolan was selected as the 2010 Southland Conference Football Student-Athlete of the Year. A Marketing major currently enrolled in Grad School, Dolan finished sixth in the nation in punting, and was voted First Team All-Conference for the third consecutive season. His career average of 43.1 yards per punt is a new school record. He was named second team All-Louisiana and was selected to the Phil Steele Fourth Team All-American Team.

The final two awards handed out on the night were the Colonel Pride Awards, which are given to a male and female student-athlete that best exemplifies pride in their academics, team, teammate, community and in Nicholls State University. Junior soccer player Carolyn Noble received the Louise "Do" Bonin Female Colonel Pride Award, while junior men's basketball guard Ben Martin was handed the Jim Hunter Male Colonel Pride Award.

Noble served this past year as the president of the Nicholls Nation, staff writer for the Nicholls Worth, and participated in the Habitat for Humanity Women's Build, all the while maintaining a 3.65 GPA. Coach Dylan Harrison summarizes her best, stating "every athlete on campus knows who she is. You need only to spend one afternoon with her to realize her role in supporting our university. She consistently goes out of her way to stop to talk to teammates, classmates, professors, or to help fellow students in need. She is the first to put on Nicholls gear, and the last to take it off. She exemplifies a true Colonel student-athlete".

Martin has diligently worked to become a starter on the men's basketball team, as well as one of its best defenders. He is on pace to graduate with a finance degree in four years, and will begin work on his MBA while continuing his athletic career. Coach JP Piper considers him to be an inspiration to his teammates because of his toughness and selfless play. Piper has commented that this young man "truly exemplifies the qualities that we use to describe what it means to have Colonel Pride. He is a second generation Nicholls athlete and can be seen wearing not only the Nicholls gear that we provide him, but gear that he has purchased on his own, which is yet another example of how much pride he has in his school".