INDIANAPOLIS – For the third time in the award’s history, a Trevecca Nazarene University student-athlete has been chosen as the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Collegiate Achievement Award recipient.
 
Trevecca softball standout MaKray Odom is this year’s 2020-21 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Female Collegiate Achievement award winner. 
 
The Great Midwest Athletic Conference annually selects (1) male and (1) female outgoing senior student-athletes to be honored with the Collegiate Achievement Award. This award is based upon an individual’s academic excellence, athletic achievements, character, leadership, and engagement within the community and conference. The 2020-21 academic year represents the seventh annual presentation of the award and is the highest honor a Great Midwest student-athlete can receive. 
 
Odom, an All-American shortstop on the Trevecca softball team, is the first Trojan since Ben Moroney (2016-2017) of the Trevecca cross country/track & field teams to win the award. In the inaugural season of the award (2014-2015), former Trevecca women’s basketball standout Kaci Britt Bell was selected. 
 
The athletic and academic honors are well documented when it comes to MaKray Odom. What is less known, but just as significant a part of her makeup is her leading and serving off the field and out of the classroom. 
 
Odom earned her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education (K-5) and already possesses a Master of Organizational Leadership degree. 
 
Odom made the 2020 and 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-American Softball teams. She is just the third Trojan athlete to be honored with selection to the prestigious academic team. The back-to-back Great Midwest Player of the Year (2018, 2019) made the 2019 CoSIDA Academic All-American second team and is the first Trojan athlete in any sport to make the prestigious all-American team for a second time with a first-team selection in 2020. 
 
Odom received the Leadership in Education award in 2019 and 2020 from Trevecca’s department in education. Trevecca’s education department honored her in 2020 with the Outstanding Student Teacher Award and the Trevecca alumni group selected her for the 2020 Student Alumni.
 
Her leadership was confirmed early at Trevecca, serving as the softball team captain since sophomore year. At the annual Trojys (Trevecca Athletic Awards) she has piled up awards including being chosen as the Freshman of the Year, That’s Us - given to a student-athlete who most embodies our maxim of Christian Scholar-Athlete and is the winner of the Female Most Outstanding Athlete three times. 
 
Odom’s reach goes far beyond the field, she has volunteered through Trevecca’s Link Group for different clean-up jobs around Nashville. Through Trevecca’s SAAC (Student Athletic Advisory Committee) she has joined other athletes on numerous projects including collecting shoes for kids in the community. Those efforts also include multiple projects to raise money for Make-A-Wish and for KidPower - a community service group formed on Trevecca's campus supported by most athletes and reaches out to kids in the community around the Trevecca campus. Odom also serves to teach Sunday school in the elementary room in her home church along with attending two church camps as a camp counselor. 
 
Her athletic accomplishments reach rare air for Trevecca or any school. She has made at least one all-American team four consecutive years and is a two-time Great Midwest Athletic Conference Player of the Year. In three separate seasons, she has been selected as a finalist for the NFCA Division II National Player of the Year. Over the last three years, she has led all levels of NCAA Active softball players in career hits. She produced the schools and one of the nation's longest hitting streaks ever with a 33-game hitting streak. Then she matched that again. She also has another 25-game hitting streak in her career. 
 
Additional finalists for the 2020-21 Female Collegiate Achievement Award included Cedarville’s Ashlyn Huffman (Cedarville), Tiffin’s Elle Hamilton (women’s lacrosse), Malone’s Hannah Thompson (cross country/track and field), Hillsdale’s Maryssa Depies (cross country/track and field), Findlay’s Meredith Wipper (women’s golf) and Ohio Dominican’s Zoie Fisher (track and field). Each member institution was permitted (1) male and (1) female nominee to put on the voting ballot and each institution was permitted (1) vote.