William & Mary swimming senior Emma Merrill (Fairfax, Va.) was elected to Phi Beta Kappa this semester, the organization announced this week.  A total of 48 members of the class of 2018 were selected in the spring voting for the nation's oldest and most prestigious honor society, to add to the 52 students elected in the fall.  Since 1990, Tribe athletes have been elected 72 times to PBK, and a total of 268 times dating back to 1899.  Merrill is the fifth W&M women's swimmer to be selected to Phi Beta Kappa, and the first since Greta Schneider '15 in 2014-15.

Merill recently wrapped up her Tribe swimming career with her fourth trip to the CAA Championships, where she was a six-time event finalist.  She helped W&M to back-to-back CAA titles in 2016 and 2017 and a second-place finish this season, marking just the second time in program history that the Tribe has finished second or better in three-straight years.  Merrill also won a career-high three races in 2017-18, taking the 200 breast against VMI in November and sweeping the 200 IM against Florida Atlantic and North Florida in early January.  At December's Princeton Invitational, she was named the recipient of the Big Al Trophy for inspirational leadership.  The award, which is named in honor of the late Princeton swimmer Bruce Alan Ebersole '07, is given each year by nomination and vote of head coaches at the meet.  Merrill completed her degree in history last year after just three years, and began the Master's in Public Policy program this year.

Phi Beta Kappa was founded Dec. 5, 1776 at W&M as the first Greek-letter fraternity and is now the nation's oldest and most prestigious collegiate honor society with chapters at more than 280 colleges and universities.  According to the organization's website, "Phi Beta Kappa celebrates and advocates excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. Its campus chapters invite for induction the most outstanding arts and sciences students at America's leading colleges and universities. The Society sponsors activities to advance these studies — the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences — in higher education and in society at large."