Francis Marion University athletic officials recently announced the names of 17 Patriot student-athletes named to the university's chapter of Chi Alpha Sigma, the National College Athlete Honor Society.

To earn a place in this honor society, a student-athlete must be at least a junior academically, have a 3.40 cumulative grade point average on a 4.00 scale, and have an endorsement from his or her respective head coach.  The nominees are then screened by a selection committee.

The 2021 inductees are baseball pitcher JD Bailey (Barnwell, SC), golfers Pierre De Caevel (Glabais, Belgium) and Grainger Howle (Darlington, SC), men's soccer players Magnus Hoejland (Holstebro, Denmark) and Javier Morcillo (Pamplona, Spain), women's soccer players Anna Capra (High Point, NC) and Rachael Hennenkamp (Wake Forest, NC), and softball players Janecia Hemingway (Conway, SC), Addie May (Vale, NC), Ashtyn Patterson (Andersonville, TN), and Bailey Perdue (Clayton, NC).

Also, women's tennis players Hermon Mikael (Karlskrona, Sweden) and Eva Zannier (Gembloux, Belgium) and volleyball players Alyssa Hansen (Apex, NC), Finn Millians (Peachtree City, GA), Lily Walton (Charlotte, NC), and Alexis Watts (Myrtle Beach, SC).   

Ten current Patriot student-athletes were previously inducted: baseball pitcher Austin Moody (Dillon, SC), golfers John Burghardt (Oakville, Ontario, Canada) and Michael Rials (Florence, SC), women's track and field athlete London Richardson (Wadmalaw Island, SC), softball player Taylor Lutian (Cumming, GA), volleyball player Kayla Arthur (Holly Springs, NC), men's tennis player Mauricio Guerrero (Mexico City, Mexico), and women's soccer players Emma Hall (Candler, NC), Megan Misuraca (Apex, NC), and Sarah Moll (Waxhaw, NC).

Chi Alpha Sigma was founded in May 1996 by DePauw University head football coach Nick Mourouzis.  The organization currently has 300 chapters in 48 states and the District of Columbia.  Francis Marion is one of only six chapters in South Carolina, and FMU was the first school to have a chapter in the Palmetto State.

Over the past 21 years, 227 different FMU student-athletes have earned this honor.

Chi Alpha Sigma's purposes are: to encourage and reward high academic scholarship of college athletes at four-year accredited institutions; to recognize outstanding academic achievement by intercollegiate varsity letterwinners; to encourage good citizenship, moral character, and friendship among the high academic achievers in college athletics; to recognize and honor the individual athlete, his/her team, sport, athletic department, and college or university; and to mentor and to provide leadership to other athletes.