The scholarship era has begun in the NAIA’s Sunrise Conference.

The University of Maine-Machias announced Wednesday it has signed its first scholarship athlete.

Andrew Mascia, a basketball player from Havre de Grace, Md., recently signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Clippers during the 2008-09 season.

Mascia, a 6-foot-4 forward, was a standout last season at Harford Christian School in Darlington, Md. He averaged 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Eagles, earning first-team recognition in the Maryland Association of Christian Schools Athletic Conference.

UMM, along with Sunrise Conference rival UMaine-Fort Kent, may now offer athletic scholarships. Presidents at league institutions voted to allow their schools to offer up to 20 percent of the NAIA’s scholarship maximum beginning in the fall.

“The administration has given our athletic department the go-ahead to start giving out scholarship money,” UMM athletic director Brac Brady said in a press release. “Having this athletic scholarship money to give was a big factor in helping us draw a quality student-athlete such as Andrew Mascia.”

Brady, who also serves as the coach of the UMM men’s basketball team, is pleased to have the chance to attract higher caliber student-athletes to UMM.

“[Mascia] is a good student who has displayed leadership skills at his school,” Brady said. “He is also a tremendous athlete who is willing to work hard and improve.”

MMA honors student-athletes

Rebecca Allen of Bucksport and Chris Tracy of Westbrook have been named the athletes of the year at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine.

Allen was instrumental in leading the Mariners’ volleyball team to a 19-6 record, the North Atlantic Conference championship, and the program’s first trip to the NCAA tournament.

The senior captain, a three-time All-NAC honoree, departs with 10 school records to her credit. Allen also was a dean’s list student every semester.

She also was named to the CoSIDA ESPN Volleyball Academic All-America second team.

Tracy, a senior linebacker, was MMA’s Defensive MVP last fall. He was named the New England Football Conference Defensive Player of the year while earning a spot on the All-NEFC first team.

MMA handed out its scholar-athlete award to 56 students, all of whom played a varsity sport while earning dean’s list status in the classroom.

Six students were North Atlantic Conference All-Academic selections after playing their sport for two seasons, achieving junior or senior status, and earning a minimum 3.5 cumulative grade point average. The recipients were Kaitlyn Leeman and Jo-Ann Provencher, women’s basketball; Rebecca Allen and Nicole St. Pierre, volleyball; and Ken Brown and Mathew Munroe, men’s cross country.

Meyers named SID at UMF

Mark Meyers recently accepted the position of sports information director at the University of Maine-Farmington.

Meyers, who has held the position on an interim basis during the 2007-08 school year, earned the job after UMF conducted a national search, said UMF athletic director Julie Davis.

Previously, Meyers had been the assistant sports editor at The Times Record newspaper in Brunswick, where he covered high school and Bowdoin College sports.

Meyers, a Bath native, earned a B.A. in communications from the University of Hartford and did an internship in media relations at Rhode Island College.

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