LOWELL, Mass. – Joey DeWitt of Ellsworth was named to the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division II All-Academic cross country team for the third straight year.

The University of Massachusetts Lowell senior has a 3.426 grade point average as a criminal justice major and finished eighth in this season’s NCAA Northeast Region Championship 10-kilometer race. He received all-Northeast Region honors for a second straigh year.

To be eligible for the honor, student-athletes must be of sophomore standing, maintain a GPA of 3.25 or better, and finish among the top 30 percent of individual runners at the NCAA Northeast Region Championship.

Murphy steals away for Monks

Elbie Murphy, a member of the Saint Joseph’s College men’s basketball team, is enjoying a standout season with the Monks of Standish.

The junior forward from Loudonville, N.Y., may not be a guard, but he certainly has the skills of one as he is currently seventh among all NCAA Division III players nationally with 3.2 steals per game. This is nothing new as Murphy smashed his school’s record for steals in a season with 126 last season, good enough to be ranked first among all Div. I, II, and III players. He is averaging 17.4 points per game for the Monks and has already eclipsed the career 1,000-point mark earlier this season. He’s the 29th player in school history to reach that benchmark.

Stewart a stalwart for MMA

Maine Maritime Academy’s Neil Stewart is sailing through a fine overall senior season.

The Mariners’ forward is among individual North Atlantic conference leaders in many categories, including rebounds (third with 178 through Monday), scoring (11th with 14.9 points per game), field goal percentage (sixth at 52.2 percent), assists (14th with 2.6 per game), free throw percentage (11th at 77 percent), blocked shots (11th with 0.7 per game) and minutes played (ninth with 31.1 a game).

If those statistics weren’t enough to be impressed over, Stewart also became the eighth player in MMA basketball history to score 1,000 career points or more last week.

He was also named the Maine College Basketball Coaches and Writers Association player for the week after averaging 23.3 points and 10.7 rebounds.

Stewart’s Mariners were third in the NAC East division standings with a record of 9-11 overall and 6-4 in conference play.

Husson picked 2nd in NAC

The Husson College baseball team, under interim coach Jason Harvey, has been picked to finish second in the North Atlantic Conference preseason coaches poll.

Castleton State, the league’s regular season titlist a year ago, was chosen to repeat.

Castleton State received 33 points and four first-place votes. Husson gained 32 points and the other two first-place votes.

They were followed by Elms College (Mass.) with 22 points; the University of Maine-Farmington (18), Becker (Mass.) with 13 and Waterville’s Thomas College (8).

Husson beat Castleton State twice in the NAC Tournament a year ago before losing to eventual champ Saint Joseph’s College of Standish.

Saint Joseph’s has left the conference to join the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC).

Husson will return five starters under the 24-year-old Harvey, a former three-sport standout at Husson who is filling in for John Winkin.

Winkin collapsed while jogging on Dec. 10 and spent five days in serious condition in the intensive care unit at Bangor’s Eastern Maine Medical Center. He is undergoing rehabilitation at a Waterville facility.