The Division II Athletics Directors Association recently announced its annual list of recipients for the 2024 Division II ADA Academic Achievement Awards – a list that includes 69 student-athletes from Francis Marion University.

In its 17th year, the Academic Achievement Awards is a program that recognizes the academic accomplishments of student-athletes at the Division II level.

Nearly 200 institutions participated in the 2023-24 awards program and a record 19,774 student-athletes were recognized. This list included 1,070 student-athletes from Conference Carolinas members, sixth most among all Division II conferences. The 69 Patriot honorees represented all 14 eligible sports.

The FMU student-athletes included on the list are acrobatics and tumbling athletes Mikayla Brown (Parkville, MD), Dalyah Fore (Woodruff, SC), Paisley Hanna (Lake City, SC), and Alexandria Mitchell (Florence, SC); baseball players Nick Boswell (Ruby, SC), Ryder Christensen (Cedar Hills, UT),  Chas DeBruhl (Kershaw, SC), Alex Elliott (Clarksville, MD), Parker Henderson (Lexington, KY), Hunter Herlong (Marion, SC), Cooper McKee (Scottsdale, AZ), Caleb Oakley (Mullins, SC), Dariel Villaran Goundis (Simpsonville, SC), and Peyton Wilson (American Fork, UT).

Also, men's basketball player Farid SaintCyr Jr. (Miami, FL); women's basketball players MiLeia Owens (Charlotte, NC) and Lauryn Taylor (Blythewood, SC); men's cross country and track runner Cullen Dore (Myrtle Beach, SC); men's track athlete Niclas Giessler (Elxleben, Germany), Andrew Lance (Columbia, SC), and Jaelyn Ryans (Aiken, SC); and women's cross country and track athlete Haizley Herndon (Myrtle Beach, SC).

Also, men's soccer players Juan Aleman (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain), Miguel Bello (Madrid, Spain), Max Bisinger (Heiligenzimmern, Germany), Jose Curvelo (Barranquilla, Colombia), Herman Fernandez (Sogamoso, Colombia), David Guevara (Guayaquil, Ecuador), Hugo Jonsson (Malmo, Sweden), Marco Madrono (Madrid, Spain), John Osadolor (Madrid, Spain), Jhancarlo Palma (Caracas, Venezuela), Sebastian Ulloa-Acevedo (Palm City, FL); and women's soccer players Izzy Ashley (Kannapolis, NC), Emma Brosnihan (Port St. Lucie, FL), Emily Casey (Charlotte, NC), Linsey Downey (Little River, SC), Ainara Eizaguirre (Hernani, Spain), JG Garon (Fort Mill, SC), Le'Landra Jarvis (Jackson, SC), Ashley Jordan (Marshall, Victoria, Australia), Kylie Reif (West Lafayette, IN), Riley Reynolds (Delran, NJ), Paula Sanabria (Barbera Del Valles, Spain), Haley Sink (Moseley, VA), and Kristina Syragakis (Vaudreuil-Dorion, Quebec, Canada).

Also, softball players Skylar Barton (Glen Burnie, MD), Makayla Cuthbertson (Indian Trail, NC), Peyton Gale (Firestone, CO), Mikaela Goss (Fuquay-Varina, NC), Emily Konz (Lantana, FL), Elisabeth Raby (Cave Creek, AZ), Lauren Smallwood (Waycross, GA), Katie Smith (Greenwood, SC), Anderson Thrower (Hanahan, SC), and Jenna Walling (Johns Island, SC); men's tennis players Adam Ernberg (Solvesborg, Sweden), Florian Glaser (Jena, Germany), Niklas Plath (Albstadt, Germany), and Austin Vienna (Huntingdale, Victoria, Australia); women's tennis players Sophia Hansen (London, England), Gabriel Karatantcheva (Sofia, Bulgaria), Julia Bellini Fernandes Pinto (Santos, Brazil), and Chelsea Seidewitz (Fassberg, Germany); and volleyball players Katie Floyd (Campbellsville, KY), Kaylee Gillespie (Pickens, SC), Katie Kemp (Plano, TX), Caroline Lucas (Easley, SC), and Kara Walker (Fayetteville, NC).

Herlong, Owens, Dore, Herndon, Eizaguirre, Smallwood, Smith, and Gillespie receive the honor for the third year in a row, while DeBruhl, Elliott, Oakley, SaintCyr Jr., Taylor, Lance, Aleman, Bello, Bisinger, Curvelo, Jonsson, Palma, Downey, Jarvis, Sanabria, Sink, Cuthbertson, Raby, Ernberg, Karatantcheva, and Bellini Fernandes Pinto are two-time honorees.

In order for a student-athlete to receive an Academic Achievement Award, the athlete must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher (on a 4.0 scale) and have attended a minimum of two years (four semesters).