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 3.50 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 2026 inductees are baseball player Tripp Triplett (Lake Lure, NC); acrobatics and tumbling athlete Kaylee Rowell (Hamer, SC); women's basketball player MacKenzie Feagin (Effingham, SC); men's track and field athlete Andrew Lance (Columbia, SC); women's track and field athlete Jordyn Perry (Florence, SC); and men's soccer players Santiago Jaramillo (Tampa, FL), James Krivejko Jr. (Sumter, SC), and Ian Milla (Geiselwind, Germany).

Also, men's tennis player Alexander Mirkov (Auckland, New Zealand); women's soccer players Tehya Dave' (Pittsburgh, PA), Jordan Dobson (Aiken, SC), and Mia Hanson (New Port Richey, FL); softball players Tallulah Civoniceva (Scarborough, Queensland, Australia) and Maddy Golka (Wesley Chapel, FL); and volleyball players Madilyn Gartner (Albertville, MN), Ella Martinez (Tega Cay, SC), and Mya Mendoza (Longwood, FL).

Sixteen current Patriot student-athletes were previously inducted: baseball player Dariel Villaran Goundis (Simpsonville, SC); softball players Mikaela Goss (Fuquay-Varina, NC), Anderson Thrower (Hanahan, SC), Jenna Walling (Johns Island, SC), and Madalyn White (Currie, NC); and  golfer Pake June (Florence, SC).

Also, men's soccer players David Guevara (Guayaquil, Ecuador) and Sebastian Ulloa-Acevedo (Palm City, FL); men's tennis player Niklas Plath (Albstadt, Germany); women's tennis player Lian Timmermans (Nederweert, Netherlands); women's soccer players Izzy Ashley (Kannapolis, NC) and Selena Wimbish (Chula Vista, CA); and volleyball players Kayla Clayworth (Myrtle Beach, SC), Katie Floyd (Campbellsville, KY), Katie Kemp (Plano, TX), and Caroline Lucas (Easley, SC).

Chi Alpha Sigma was founded in May 1996 by then DePauw University head football coach Nick Mourouzis.  The organization currently has 533 chapters in 46 states and the District of Columbia.  Francis Marion is one of only eight chapters in South Carolina, and FMU was the first school to have a chapter in the Palmetto State.

Over the past 26 years, 320 different FMU student-athletes have earned this honor.

Chi Alpha Sigma is the first, and only, national scholar-athlete society to honor those four-year collegiate student-athletes who have excelled in both the classroom and in athletic competition.  The organization also recognizes that it is part of an athletics community made of diverse groups and its values statement reflects those to celebrate everyone in the community.  Chi Alpha Sigma continues to provide outstanding student-athletes with an opportunity to become connected within a fraternal association that aligns their educational and athletic successes for a lifetime.