8 FMU Student-Athletes Named to Chi Alpha Sigma Honor Society
FLORENCE, S.C. – Francis Marion University athletic officials recently announced the names of eight 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, 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 2008 inductees are baseball player Ryan Hypke (Champagne, Ill.), women’s basketball player Katherine Kiefer (Lilburn, Ga.), women’s softball players Lakyn Bendle (Amsterdam, Ohio) and Shawn Moore (Pamplico, S.C.), women’s soccer players Brandi Bonifay (Stuart, Fla.) and Kiersten Nedervelt (Montpelier, Va.), men’s tennis player Jordan Gandy (Darlington, S.C.), and women’s volleyball player Jessica Lombardi (Massillon, Ohio).
Eleven current Patriot student-athletes were previously inducted: baseball player Chris Hutto (Islandton, S.C.), cross country and track and field athlete Ariel Ortiz (Falls Church, Va.), women’s volleyball player Jackie Phiel (Amherst, Ohio), women’s softball player Monica Wofford (Myrtle Beach, S.C.), women’s soccer player Jody Rhoderick (Middletown, Md.), men’s tennis players Matthew Keth (Border, South Africa) and James Maclachlan (Johannesburg, South Africa), and women’s tennis players Sarah Hickman (Florence), Magda Jezovicova (Cesky Tesin, Czech Republic), Jenny Ludwig (Cologne, Germany), and Sarka Vitkova (Humpolec, Czech Republic).
Chi Alpha Sigma was founded in May 1996 by DePauw University head football coach Nick Mourouzis. The organization currently has 166 chapters in 38 states. 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 eight years, 63 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.
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