Koizar, Orach Win Dean Smith Award

UMaine basketball player Sigi Koizar and Jesse Orach from XC and track & field are 2016 "M" Club Dean Smith Award winners for outstanding academic work.

It is the highest award given at UMaine for the top male and female student athlete each year.

Koizar(Vienna, Austria) has a 3.957 GPA, majoring in biology with a pre-medical concentration and chemistry minor. She is on pace to be a 1,000 point scorer for the basketball team. The Black Bears are currently 16-7.

Orach(Gorham, Maine) has a 3.95 in chemical engineering with a minor in mathematics. He finished 7th at the America East XC Championships last fall. His Maine team finished 3rd out of 38 teams at the New England Championships.

The award is named for Dean Smith(Foxcroft Academy, Maine) who captained the UMaine basketball team and won the national NCAA Walter Byers Award for excellence in athletics and academics.