Francis Marion University athletic officials have announced that three former Patriot student-athletes - baseball pitcher Jeremy Halpin, volleyball player Krissy Burt O'Kelley, and men's soccer player Alvaro Figuerola - will be the newest inductees into the FMU Athletic Hall of Fame on Feb. 12, 2005.
O'Kelley played three seasons of volleyball at FMU (1996-98) after transferring from Lewis-Clark State College. The Clarkston, Wash., native earned the B.S. degree in psychology in 2001. Now married, and the mother of a 16-month-old boy, she resides in Sherwood, Ore., and is employed by U.S. Bancorp (Equipment Finance) in Tigard, Ore., near Portland.
As a middlehitter, she was a three-time All-Peach Belt Conference performer and earned conference Player of the Year honors in 1996. As a sophomore in 1996, she ranked third nationally in hitting percentage (.464), a figure that also set a PBC single-season record. The following year, she ranked 11th nationally in hitting percentage (.379).
She ended her career with 1,183 kills and an amazing .399 hitting percentage - second-best all-time in the Peach Belt. She also recorded 116 solo blocks, 218 block assists, and 292 digs in 336 career games. Her career high for kills in a match was 27.
She helped guide the Patriots to a three-year record of 87-12, including two conference tournament titles, two regular-season titles, and the program's first-ever NCAA Division II national tournament bid in 1998.
She was a member of the 1996 squad, led by first-year head coach Jerry Pruitt, that completed a "worst-to-first" season. FMU had tied for last place in the PBC in 1995 with a 12-29 mark, but rebounded to a 28-2 record in her first year in Florence and won the PBC regular-season crown.
