Liz Wood may have graduated from the University of Maine, but that doesn’t mean her days of winning awards for her efforts in Orono are necessarily over.
Wood, a senior forward on the women’s basketball team last season, has been selected as a nominee for the 2016 America East Woman of the Year Award.
Wood, of Catlett, Virginia, recently was named the Outstanding Graduating Student in the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture. She earned a degree in biology, with a pre-med concentration, and a minor in chemistry.
She was a three-time America East all-conference selection and finished her UMaine career ranked sixth in career scoring (1,462) and rebounding (902) and eighth in assists (363).
Her awards include the America East Elite 18 Award, America East Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, 2015 Dean Smith Award and a CoSIDA Academic All-American.
Wood has served as president of the UMaine Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and the America East Conference representative on the Division I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
UMaine signee named MVP
Naira Caceres Martell capped her pre-collegiate career recently by being named the Most Valuable Player at the Spanish Championship after leading her team to a gold medal at the U18 national games.
The 6-foot guard averaged 18.5 points, 15.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.5 steals during the tournament and was named the event’s top rebounder.
Caceres, who hails from Las Palmas De Gran Canaria, played for Club Baloncesto Islas Canarias. The Blue Star Europe five-star recruit averaged 14 points and 12 rebounds for her club team and was named the second best student-athlete in Spain in 2015.
UMPI softball players honored
Nine University of Maine-Presque Isle softball players have received honors from the United States Collegiate Athletic Association and the Association of Division III Independents.
Sara Packard of St. Albans and Katie Patenaude of Presque Isle each was chosen for the USCAA All-America first team and the All-Independent first team.
Packard, a sophomore pitcher, had a 19-14 record with a 3.02 earned run average and 178 strikeouts. Patenaude, a senior first baseman, batted .364 with a team-leading 11 doubles and 28 RBIs along with two home runs.
Freshman second baseman Hannah Williams was an All-Independent second-team choice and a USCAA honorable mention All-American. She batted .373 with 36 runs scored, six doubles, 20 RBIs and nine stolen bases.
Other All-Independent first-team selections were freshman third baseman Dalynn Jacobs (.304, 5 doubles, 18 RBIs, 8 stolen bases) and sophomore outfielder Nicole Marucci of Naples (.353, 4 doubles, 7 steals).
All-Independent second-team picks were senior outfielder Amanda Allen of Limestone and freshman outfielder Jordi Legassie of Presque Isle.
Dinah Bilodeau of Knox, Jessica Campbell of Lisbon, Marucci and Packard also were chosen for the USCAA All-Academic Team, which recognizes students with a 3.5 GPA or higher.
Second-year head coach Sara Shaw was named AD3I Co-Coach of the Year after guiding the Owls to an association-best 25-15 record.