ORONO, Maine – On February 10, the University of Maine athletics department honored 289 student-athletes for their success in the classroom at the 31^st annual Scholar-Athlete Recognition Ceremony held at Wells Conference Center.
 
The 289 honorees represent the highest number of scholar-athlete individual recognitions in the 31-year history of the scholar-athlete ceremony.
 
This year, the University of Maine recognized 205 scholar-athletes, presented to student-athletes who earned a 3.0 of better grade point average in the previous spring and fall semesters, and/or have maintained a 3.0 or better accumulative grade point average.
 
The award is a medallion, the color of which symbolizes the number of years a recipient has received the award. This year's bronze (first-year), silver (second-year), and gold (third and fourth-year) medallions will be awarded for academic excellence during the 2019 spring and fall semesters.
 
The University of Maine athletics department also honored 84 student-athletes as 2019 Rising Stars. These student-athletes earned a 3.0 or better grade point average in their first semester at the University of Maine.
 
This year's 205 scholar-athletes and 84 rising stars total 289 student-athletes. For the 16^th consecutive year, the Black Bears honored over one-half of the student-athletes at UMaine.
 
Since the inception of the scholar-athlete awards in 1989, the University of Maine has awarded 4,378 medallions to student-athletes.
 
For a complete list of this year's honorees, please click here.
 
In addition, the University of Maine athletics department named its 12^th annual "Team Maine", representing the top sophomore, junior or senior achieving the highest grade point average for the calendar year 2019. The representatives for "Team Maine" 2019 were:
 

Team Maine - 2019

Sport	Student-Athlete	Major	GPA
Men's Basketball	Mykhailo Yagodin	International Affairs	3.59
Men's Swim & Dive	Andrew Plese	KPE-Exercise Science	3.71
Baseball	Brogan Searle-Belanger	Chemistry	3.77
Men's Cross Country/T&F	Ethan Orach	Wildlife Ecology	3.88
Football	Joe Fitzpatrick	KPE-Exercise Science	3.90
Softball	Kelby Drews	KPE-Exercise Science	3.97
Women's Ice Hockey	Alexandra Beltz	Nursing	3.97
Field Hockey	Lilla Tilton-Flood	Animal & Veterinary Science	3.98
Men's Ice Hockey	Cameron Spicer*	Finance & Financial Economics	3.99
Soccer	Beate Naglestad**	Management	4.00
Soccer	Nicole Bailey	Bioengineering	4.00
Soccer	Anna-Maria Dagher*	Biomedical Engineering	4.00
Soccer	Emilie Andersen*	Psychology & Economics	4.00
Soccer	Amanda Sandberg	Biochemistry	4.00
Women's Basketball	Fanny Wadling**	KPE-Exercise Science/Admin.	4.00
Women's Cross Country/T&F	Emmaeve Jourdain*	Marine Science	4.00
Women's Swim & Dive	Morgan Oehler	Civil Engineering	4.00