ORONO, Maine – Helen Shearer of the Maine women's cross country program was named the top America East Women's Cross Country Scholar Athlete for the fall, the conference announced on Wednesday.

Shearer, a Kinesiology-Physical Education & French senior student-athlete, achieved the honor with a 3.94 grade point average. Shearer ran in her first cross country season with the Black Bears after joining the program in January of 2025 after her stint at Army West Point. Shearer competed in four meets for the Black Bears which included a second place finish in the NEICAAA Championships back on October 10th with a time of 17.28.3, being named a member of the All New England team. Shearer's performance helped Maine to a second place finish at the event.

Shearer was named America East Female Performer of the Week after her performance at the New England Championships on Oct. 10. Shearer also helped lead the Black Bears to their first America East Conference Championship in program history as she finished in sixth place at the event with a time of 17:42.20. Shearer was named to the America East All Conference First Team as well.

The Scholar-Athletes were members of teams in the six championship sports which America East sponsored in the fall season including men's and women's cross country, field hockey, men's and women's soccer and volleyball. Nominees were put forward by their institution, which could nominate up to one student-athlete per sport, then voted upon by the conference's Student-Athlete Engagement committee. Each America East Scholar-Athlete was a projected starter or prominent reserve and carries a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.50.

Sport Scholar-Athletes are automatically eligible for the America East Female or Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year awards, which will be announced at the end of the Spring Semester.

-UMaine-