In her freshman year at Nicholls, Chelsea Dockrey has proven to be a phenomenal two-sport athlete competing in both volleyball and track. Dockrey graduated from Florence High School in Florence, Texas in the spring of 2006 and moved to Thibodaux in the fall to start participating in volleyball and track for the Lady Colonels.

Dockrey said she was originally recruited for the Nicholls track team but desired to also participate in volleyball.

“I really wanted to play volleyball at a collegiate level. Nicholls sent me a recruitment letter for track and I asked about volleyball at Nicholls,” Dockrey said. “They seemed somewhat interested so I came for a visit and eventually they offered me a scholarship.”

During her participation in high school volleyball, Dockrey was named to the all-state team, all-defensive team, named team MVP in her senior year and was a four year letter winner in volleyball. In addition to volleyball, Dockrey was also a four-year letter winner on the high school track team.

In her debut season as an outside hitter for the Lady Colonels volleyball team, Dockrey played in 31 matches and had 108 kills, 14 assists and 16 aces.

Dockrey has been competing with the track team this spring and has been setting school records in the high jump competition since the start of the 2007 track season.

Head track coach Scott Williamson said Dockrey is a great athlete and does a great job on the track and the volleyball court.

“Chelsea is a tremendous athlete and a hard worker. She is very dedicated and does whatever it takes to succeed. She mentioned to me in the recruiting process that she was interested in playing volleyball as well as track,” Williamson said. “We discussed it with coach Laird and she played great volleyball in the fall. It worked out well for both volleyball and track.”

Dockrey participates in high jump events and the four-by-four relay for the Nicholls track team. She established her name in the Nicholls record books March 10 as she posted a school record high jump of 5-7 at the University of Southern Mississippi Invite in Hattiesburg, Miss.

“It felt good being able to set the record but I know I can do better. My goal is to reach 5-9 and I want to achieve that this season,” Dockrey said.

Dockrey said there are advantages and disadvantages of being a two sport athlete in college.