The University of Mississippi Athletics
Nichols, Winn Named Ole Miss Nominees for SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Scholarship
4/17/2025 | Baseball, Cross Country, Track and Field, Student-Athlete Development
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Rebel seniors Mason Nichols of Ole Miss baseball and Loral Winn of Ole Miss women's track & field and cross country have been nominated for the SEC H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Postgraduate Scholarship by the University of Mississippi, the SEC announced Thursday.
The H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Postgraduate Scholarship has been presented by the Southeastern Conference since 1986 to the league's top male and female scholar-athletes.
The SEC provides the league's male and female McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year Post-Graduate Scholarship recipients with a $20,000 post-graduate scholarship. The 30 remaining male and female finalists for the award will also receive a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship.
The award recipients are chosen by a committee of Faculty Athletics Representatives from the 16 SEC institutions and will be honored by the league membership at SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Florida.
Within the past two weeks, Nichols has earned the highest academic honors bestowed by both the NCAA and Ole Miss. First, Nichols was named a recipient of the University of Mississippi's Taylor Medal, the top academic honor handed out to less than one percent of the student body. Next, Nichols was named as one of two winners of the NCAA's Walter Byers Graduate Scholarship, which annually awards $24,000 to one male and one female student-athlete nationally.
Nichols has been a mainstay in the Rebels' starting rotation this season, making a start in every weekend series so far. In nine starts, he has posted an ERA of 4.54 while striking out 41 batters over 35.2 innings of work. On March 2, in a start against Wright State Nichols struck out a career-high 10 hitters and is one of only two Rebel pitchers to reach double-digit strikeouts in a game this season.
The Mississippi native has been with the Rebels for all four seasons of his career, appearing in 70 games to date, more than any other pitcher on staff. He was a key contributor for Ole Miss in 2022 when they won the College World Series, making 21 appearances as a freshman.
Nichols will graduate with a degree in biological sciences in May. A three-year team representative on Ole Miss's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Nichols' community involvement has included volunteering at events for individuals with special needs, church activities for the elderly and team projects to give back to low-income families.
Winn – a senior native of Dresden, Tennessee – has been a crucial member of both the Ole Miss women's track & field and cross country programs since first arriving to Oxford in the fall of 2019.
On the cross country course, Winn has helped spur several of the best SEC and NCAA team finishes in program history, while this past season she earned her first career national qualifying berth as an individual – one of only three Rebel women to do so. She is a three-time member of the NCAA All-South Region team and a three-time All-SEC honoree in cross country, and she was the 2023 SEC Cross Country Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Winn etched her name as the fastest Rebel woman in recorded Ole Miss cross country history with her record 6K time of 18:52.10 from the 2023 NCAA South Regional, the only sub-19 6K in available school records. Across her illustrious cross country career, Winn broke the 20-minute barrier in the 6K six total times, the most by any Rebel woman in recorded history.
Winn has been equally as impressive on the track, where she has earned two First-Team All-America honors as a member of the best distance medley relay squads in Ole Miss women's history in 2021 and 2022. She's a four-time NCAA East Region qualifier, a six-time school record holder, and was a member of the 2022 SEC title DMR that set the SEC meet record at 10:56.39. In her Rebel track career, Winn has scored 20 total SEC points and one full NCAA point across her two trips on the DMR.
Academically, Winn is currently a graduate student working toward her master's in journalism after completing her bachelor's in the spring of 2023. Winn owns a Taylor Medal of her own from 2023, as well as a Who's Who nod from the same year and the 1A FAR Academic Excellence Award in 2024. Winn is an eight-time member of the USTFCCCA All-Academic teams, earning the honor four times apiece across cross country and track, as well as a nine-time SEC Honor Roll member and an eight-time selection to the Chancellor's Honor Roll.
Winn also became known to fans around the league this past year as Ole Miss' sideline reporter during SEC Network+ broadcasts.
The H. Boyd McWhorter Scholar-Athlete Postgraduate Scholarship has been presented by the Southeastern Conference since 1986 to the league's top male and female scholar-athletes.
The SEC provides the league's male and female McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year Post-Graduate Scholarship recipients with a $20,000 post-graduate scholarship. The 30 remaining male and female finalists for the award will also receive a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship.
The award recipients are chosen by a committee of Faculty Athletics Representatives from the 16 SEC institutions and will be honored by the league membership at SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Florida.
Within the past two weeks, Nichols has earned the highest academic honors bestowed by both the NCAA and Ole Miss. First, Nichols was named a recipient of the University of Mississippi's Taylor Medal, the top academic honor handed out to less than one percent of the student body. Next, Nichols was named as one of two winners of the NCAA's Walter Byers Graduate Scholarship, which annually awards $24,000 to one male and one female student-athlete nationally.
Nichols has been a mainstay in the Rebels' starting rotation this season, making a start in every weekend series so far. In nine starts, he has posted an ERA of 4.54 while striking out 41 batters over 35.2 innings of work. On March 2, in a start against Wright State Nichols struck out a career-high 10 hitters and is one of only two Rebel pitchers to reach double-digit strikeouts in a game this season.
The Mississippi native has been with the Rebels for all four seasons of his career, appearing in 70 games to date, more than any other pitcher on staff. He was a key contributor for Ole Miss in 2022 when they won the College World Series, making 21 appearances as a freshman.
Nichols will graduate with a degree in biological sciences in May. A three-year team representative on Ole Miss's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Nichols' community involvement has included volunteering at events for individuals with special needs, church activities for the elderly and team projects to give back to low-income families.
Winn – a senior native of Dresden, Tennessee – has been a crucial member of both the Ole Miss women's track & field and cross country programs since first arriving to Oxford in the fall of 2019.
On the cross country course, Winn has helped spur several of the best SEC and NCAA team finishes in program history, while this past season she earned her first career national qualifying berth as an individual – one of only three Rebel women to do so. She is a three-time member of the NCAA All-South Region team and a three-time All-SEC honoree in cross country, and she was the 2023 SEC Cross Country Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Winn etched her name as the fastest Rebel woman in recorded Ole Miss cross country history with her record 6K time of 18:52.10 from the 2023 NCAA South Regional, the only sub-19 6K in available school records. Across her illustrious cross country career, Winn broke the 20-minute barrier in the 6K six total times, the most by any Rebel woman in recorded history.
Winn has been equally as impressive on the track, where she has earned two First-Team All-America honors as a member of the best distance medley relay squads in Ole Miss women's history in 2021 and 2022. She's a four-time NCAA East Region qualifier, a six-time school record holder, and was a member of the 2022 SEC title DMR that set the SEC meet record at 10:56.39. In her Rebel track career, Winn has scored 20 total SEC points and one full NCAA point across her two trips on the DMR.
Academically, Winn is currently a graduate student working toward her master's in journalism after completing her bachelor's in the spring of 2023. Winn owns a Taylor Medal of her own from 2023, as well as a Who's Who nod from the same year and the 1A FAR Academic Excellence Award in 2024. Winn is an eight-time member of the USTFCCCA All-Academic teams, earning the honor four times apiece across cross country and track, as well as a nine-time SEC Honor Roll member and an eight-time selection to the Chancellor's Honor Roll.
Winn also became known to fans around the league this past year as Ole Miss' sideline reporter during SEC Network+ broadcasts.
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