May 21, 2001

LOGAN, Utah - Softball player Breanne Nickle will represent Utah State University at the fifth annual NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference at Disney's Wide World of Sports and Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., May 28-June 1.

A total of 300 student-athletes from around the country have been selected to participate in the conference. The mission of the NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference is to provide a diverse group of the nation's top student-athletes an opportunity to actively participate in challenging and thought-provoking activities that will enable them to become better leaders on their campuses and in their communities.

As a result of participation, the student-athletes will enhance their communication skills, decision-making and problem-solving, critical-thinking and collaborative skills. The conference also promotes better communication among student-athletes, coaches, administrators, faculty and communities.

Nickle, who completed her junior year as a co-captain of the Aggie softball team, was an academic all-district and academic all-Big West Conference selection as a sophomore. She has been very active in USU's student-athletes services programs such as the Student-Athletes as Mentors (SAMs) and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAC) in her time at Utah State.

On the field Nickle, from Bluffdale, Utah's Bingham High School, has played in 154 of USU's 157 games in the last three years. She has started all 154 games she has played. This past season Nickle led the team with six home runs and now has nine in her career. Her 20 RBI were also a team best.

The first two years of this conference Utah State was represented by two student-athletes each year as gymnasts Deanna Palmer and Melissa Torres attended the 1997 conference and golfer Mitch Harris and women's track athlete Jamie Hall were at the 1998 conference. Soccer's Emily Sutherland was USU's representative in 1999 and basketball player Brennan Ray attended the 2000 conference.