The Francis Marion University acrobatics and tumbling team has been awarded a Conference Carolinas Team Messick Sportsmanship Award for the 2025 season.

The conference released on Monday (May 19) the team winners for each of the 12 spring sports the league sponsors.

The 23-member Patriot squad recently completed its second season under the direction of head coach Brittany Rueb.

The Conference Carolinas Directors of Athletics implemented the process by which the Conference Carolinas Messick Sportsmanship Awards are determined. A student-athlete and coach from each institution vote separately upon the sportsmanship of all conference competitors. Each institution then submits those votes to the conference office where the averages are then calculated to decide the winner for each conference-sponsored sport.

The Team Messick Sportsmanship Awards are named after John D. Messick, who was the President of former conference member East Carolina from 1947-59. Messick truly championed sportsmanship and even wrote a book entitled, "Personality and Character Development."