Campus Cutie Special: Lacrosse Players Nicky Mullen ’17 and Simon Jenkin ’17

Name: Nicholas “Nicky” Andre Mullen

Age: 20

Class: Sophomore

Major: Business Administration with a marketing emphasis

Hometown: Menlo Park, CA

Relationship Status: Married to the Game and the paper it come with

Name: Simon Jenkin

Age: 20

Class: Sophomore

Major: Biology

Hometown: Toronto & Seattle

Relationship Status: Single

How did you two become friends?

Nicky: Simon and I became friends through the lacrosse team. Funny enough, I thought Simon looked like a motorcross kid that would be way too into the X Games the first time I saw him.

Simon: Mullen and I had a team scrimmage last year that was between the new Rookie players vs. the Veterans. It was the first scrimmage/interaction the team had, so no one really knew each other yet. Maybe 5 minutes into the game, Mullen comes off to the sideline, throws his gear and stick down and says something along the lines of, “you guys suck, I’m the best, and I’m going to start over all of you.” I knew immediately we were going to make great buds.

What is being on the lacrosse team like?

Nicky: Even though we are practically campus celebrities being on the lacrosse team, we are just normal people. I put my skinny jeans on one leg at a time like any other guy. I usually spend most of my day neglecting homework at the skate park. I just learned ollies, so I’m pretty stoked on that. Also, I usually eat Spaghettios before practice. Then I listen to Blink-182 until my mom calls me.  I usually tell her my skate career isn’t a phase because my skate career is my life. Then I get in my bed and wait to take my socks off once I’m fully comfortable under the covers.

Simon: Coming to Chapman for the education and playing for the team were two of my better decisions. The team consists of 45+ guys that are genuinely some of the better people I know. This year specifically, the chemistry between all of us is so strong. Everyone gets along with one another and we all see each other as brothers. It’s also awesome to see all the support we get from other students around campus. People setting up tailgates and getting big turnouts for big games is truly awesome to see, and makes being a part of the program even more special. 

What is your favorite Chapman memory?

Nicky: My favorite memory at Chapman was that one time I woke up for 6am conditioning freshman year and the dorm courts were filled with like 20 bunnies. I ended up almost being late to conditioning because I chased around those lil suckers for like 15 minutes. Rabbits are mad elusive.

Simon: My favorite memory would definitely have to be the night I came back after having to leave school and take a semester off to deal with family issues back home. The feeling of being back with the team, feeling their support and seeing all the guys again was a relief after a very difficult couple of months. A close runner up would be when Nicky and I rescued our dog from the shelter. She is a Pitbull-Akita mix. Her name is Lola. Literally the best behaved dog I’ve ever had. 

What’s the craziest thing you two have done together?

Nicky: I would say one of the craziest things Simon and I have done was sneaking on to the roof of a government building in Seattle to jump off the roof into the lake. When we were half way through climbing the building, a cop car pulled up to the neighboring parking lot. We ended up sleuthing out of there without getting in trouble with the cops and got to jump off the roof. Also, we streaked that one time earlier this year, which was pretty neat!

Simon: Mullen once went 27 in a 25 mph zone. And I was riding shotgun. (Any other of our stories wouldn’t be appropriate.) 

What’s the best way for a girl to let you know she’s interested in you?

Nicky: Definitely if a girl is blunt with me. If she’s all like, “I wanna marry you.” In the back of my head, I get the sneaking suspicion that she could maybe be down for what I’m cooking. Also, if she sends me hand drawn portraits (crayon drawings only).

Simon: Anything but playing hard to get. The best way would be to make an effort to talk/hangout. When girls play hard to get I take it as they think I’m weird. Which is fine. I’m pretty weird. And Canadian. And yes, to answer your question I still say some words funny and Mullen makes fun of me every time because of it. 

What’s your idea of a perfect date?

Nicky: My perfect date would begin with me picking said girl up on my pterodactyl. We would spend the beginning of the evening soaring around the countryside throwing water balloons on unsuspecting nerds. Then we would fly to the tallest mountain in the land to slay the tyrannical dragon and save the towns people. We would cap the night off with dragon steaks and mead and maybe catch a late movie.  Then we would fall in love and live happily until we turned 112 years old when we would die at exactly the same time.

Simon: We are in the South (my future southern bell and I). An open field with tall wheat grass and dandelions. (I had previously taken a Zyrtec so my allergies are staying under control. Maybe Claritin D, that works well too.) After driving around the open field in my pick up truck, we decide to have a picnic out of the bed of my truck. After eating a nice Southern meal, the sun begins to set and the stars come out. Because we aren’t near LA, there isn’t any light pollution so we can see more than the moon and the big dipper. Out of the woods, Luke Bryan appears on top of a beautiful horse. He rides over to our truck where we are sitting on the bed looking up on the stars and begins to play “I Don’t Want This Night to End,” “Drunk on You,” and many others. We spend all night listening to Luke and watch the sunrise. The next morning Luke Bryan invites us over to his house and makes us breakfast. The end.

Tell us about your most epic fail with a girl:

Nicky: My most “epic fail” with a girl would have to be when driving home from a date, we took a back road in the forest and I accidentally hit a deer. I mean, I didn’t do it on purpose. It was nighttime and this thing came out of nowhere. I swear this dear had a death wish or a vendetta so he settled on my front bumper. So we get out and this deer looks super dead on the ground in front of my car but before I can get even close to the thing, it all of a sudden gets up and scampers off into the woods. Needless to say, it put a damper on the night.

Simon: I went on a vacation with my ex-girlfriend and her family to Cape Cod. We had taken the ferry over to Martha’s Vineyard. Her parents had decided to rent an old hummer for the day. Her dad asked me to help take the top off of the hummer as it was decently complicated and had a lot of zippers. My response was, “Ya sure, I’m great with taking off zippers!” I looked up at her dad and realized that I had just said one of the dumbest things I could say to the father of my girlfriend at the time. And it just so happened that her dad is about 6’4, 220 pounds, and was the former middle linebacker for West Point. Yes, West Point, as in the United States Military Academy. He was like Robert De Niro in Meet the Parents. Go army. 

One thing no one knows about each other?

Nicky: Nobody knows that Simon is super scared of spiders and sometimes comes into my room at night demanding to spoon because he’s so scared of the bugs in his room and he needs comfort.

Simon: Nicky absolutely HATES when people poke his belly button. If you ever get the chance, I highly suggest you try it. You’re in for a great reaction and it is actually surprisingly satisfying. And don’t be shy, really get in there.