The University of Maine fall sports teams had the highest percentage of players named to the America East academic honor roll.

Among those earning the distinction were four local performers: Mt. Blue graduate Kelton Cullenberg (men‘s cross country) and Leavitt products MaryBeth Kelson (women’s cross country), Megan Miller (field hockey) and Brianna Hammond (women’s soccer).

Maine had 52 players named to the list, representing almost three-quarters of its autumn athletes. Students must achieve a 3.00 GPA to make the honor roll.

Also earning academic recognition were two tri-county football players at Plymouth (N.H.) Statre University.

Nicolas Keene, a senior defensive lineman from Auburn (Edward Little), and Nate Dubois, a sophomore wide receiver from Oxford, were selected to the New England Football Conference all-academic team.

EVEN IT UP

University of Southern Maine senior Tim Even of Stoneham (Fryeburg) was selected Little East Conference Track Athlete of the Week for the period ending Jan. 21-22.

Even became the fifth USM athlete to win that weekly honor on the winter docket.

He qualified for both the NCAA Division III New England and ECAC Division III Championship with his winning time of 2:34.19 in the 1,000-meter run at the Bates Invitational.

It was one of many local highlights in the meet.

NCAA indoor shot put champion David Pless of Bates College surpassed his own school record in the Jan. 21 competition.

Pless’ distance of 56 feet, 10 inches topped his mark in the March 2011 NCAA meet by four inches. A junior from Atlanta, Pless also set a personal record in winning the weight throw.

Seven teams competed in the annual showcase. Bates was runner-up only to Division I Maine.

Brittney Bell of Poland won the women’s 400 meters for Colby College at the meet. Allison Fereshetian of Turner (Leavitt) was first in the 60-meter hurdles for Maine.

On the men’s side, Frank DelDuca of Bethel (Telstar) paced the men’s 60 meters and ran the opening leg of the victorious 4×400 relay. Poland graduate Trevor England swept the long jump and triple jump.

STEADY EX-EDDIES

It was another big week for players from the Edward Little boys’ basketball pipeline to the college game.

Brandon Giguere scored 12 points — all on 3-pointers — Thursday night in Central Maine Community College’s 79-23 rout of Unity.

Sophomore Yusuf Iman poured in a career-high 15 points for the University of Maine at Farmington in a 66-63 overtime loss Tuesday to Colby. Iman also had six rebounds, two assists and a steal. He was 5-for-8 from the field and hit all five of his free-throw attempts.

TAKING IT OUTSIDE

Sam Leclerc of Fayette, star of the 2008 Class C championship team at Winthrop, continues to lead the Division II Bentley College men’s basketball team at both ends of the floor.

Leclerc, who started his career at Division I Bryant, is second among the Falcons with 13.9 points per game and owns a sparkling .446 percentage from  3-point range.

The Falcons are one of the top defensive teams in the region, having allowed only three teams to exceed 67 points in a game this season.

Bentley was 13-5 overall and in a three-way tie for third place in the Northeast-10 Conference entering Saturday’s game against Southern Connecticut State.

SOUTHERN SWING

For the first time since 1998, the University of Maine baseball team will play a game at Hadlock Field in Portland this spring.

Maine will face Boston College at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 15.

Tickets are $6 and are on sale now at the Hadlock Field box office. For more information, call 879-9500 or go to www.seadogs.com.

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