ORONO, Maine -- University of Maine graduate Jesse Orach has been selected to the 2016-17 College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-District® 1 Men's Track & Field/Cross Country first team. The honor recognizes the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances athletically and in the classroom.

Orach graduated with a 3.95 grade point average (GPA), earning his degree in chemical engineering with a mathematics minor. The Gorham, Maine native currently boasts a 4.00 GPA as he is pursuing his Master of Business Administration (MBA) post-graduate degree.

This adds to the impressive list of academic awards and honors that Orach has received over his time at UMaine. He is a rare two-time 'M' Club Dean Smith award recipient, presented annually to the top male and female student-athletes at UMaine with outstanding academic and athletic achievement along with citizenship and community service. He recently earned his fourth America East Scholar-Athlete honor and is also a three-time America East Elite 17/18 award winner, presented to the championship finisher with the highest individual GPA.

Athletically, Orach won numerous distance events, highlighted by his top individual mark at the 2017 America East Cross Country Championships. Orach bested the field with a time of 24:35.3 and was just the fifth Black Bear to win the event and the first since 2011.

The Academic All-District® teams include the student-athletes listed on the documents linked above and are divided into eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada. This is the sixth year of the expanded Academic All-America® program as CoSIDA moved from recognizing a University Division (Division I) and a College Division (all non-Division I) and has doubled the number of scholar-athletes honored. The expanded teams include NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II and NCAA Division III participants, while the College Division Academic All-America® Team combines NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools.

The Division II and III Academic All-America® program is being financially supported by the NCAA Division II and III national governance structures, to assist CoSIDA with handling the awards fulfillment aspects for the 2016-17 DII and DIII Academic All-America® teams program.

First-team Academic All-District® honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America® honorees will be selected next month. 

For more information on the CoSIDA Academic All-District® teams, please click here.

-UMaine-