Omondi has been named as the Academic All-America® of the Year in the College Divisions.

To be eligible for the national team, a student athlete had to have been selected to its District's first team.  Initial nomination criteria at the District level includes being a varsity starter or key reserve, maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, reaching sophomore athletic and academic standing at his current institution and be nominated by their sports information director.

A native of Nairobi, Kenya, Omondi was named as the American Midwest Conference Player of the Year after leading the Cougars to the conference championship and a 16^th consecutive berth in the NAIA national tournament. Omondi leads the team in blocks (147) while hitting a team best .420 as the seventh-seeded Cougars enter the NAIA Tournament with an overall record of 37-2.

A Biology and Chemistry major with a 3.94 G.P.A., Omondi is a NAIA Scholar-Athlete. She has been an active member of the Columbia Church of Christ since her freshman year where they are involved in the adopt-a-family program during the Christmas season.  She volunteers as a reader at the local elementary school and currently she is volunteering her time with refugee services, offering her time as a tutor and translation.

Maria has been a model student-athlete for the Cougars, serving on Columbia's Athletic Council and being named an NAIA Champion of Character. 

Since the program's inception in 1952, COSIDA has bestowed Academic All America honors on more than 14,000 student athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA covering all NCAA championship sports.

For more information about the Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com 

2009 ESPN THE MAGAZINE Academic All-America®

Volleyball Team (College Division) as selected by CoSIDA

FIRST TEAM

Name                              School                        Dist.   Yr.       Hometown                   GPA   Major

Jennifer Hefner          Wayne State             VII     Jr.        Archer, Neb.                3.96    Applied          Human & Sport Physiology

Rebecca Kamp            Calvin                            IV     So.       Orland Park, Ill.           3.83    Secondary Education

Alex May                       Mass. Inst. of Tech. I       Sr.       Des Moines, Iowa      3.80    Brain & Cognitive Sciences

Maria Omondi             Columbia (Mo.)        VII    Sr.       Nairobi, Kenya            3.94   Biology & Chemistry

Liz Schnelle                   Ohio Northern          IV     Sr.       New Bremen, Ohio   3.65    Accounting

Mary Slinger                 Concordia-St. Paul    V      Sr.       Faribault, Minn.          3.95    Chemistry & Biology

SECOND TEAM

Name                              School                        Dist.   Yr.       Hometown                   GPA   Major

Renata da Silva            California (PA)            II      Sr.       Sao Paulo, Brazil         3.75    International Studies

Sara Graf                       SW Minnesota State         V        Sr.                                     Mount Pleasant, Iowa                                3.93                      Accounting

Jamie Lancaster          Anderson (S.C.)        III      Jr.        Fountain Inn, S.C.      4.00    Parks & Recreation/sport mgmt.

Tricia McCutchan        Case Western            IV     So.       Hamilton, Ohio            4.00    Biomedical Engineering

Maggie McNamara    Concordia-St. Paul    V      Sr.       Zumbrota, Minn.        3.78    Mathematics

Devon Woolard          Lynn                              III      Jr.        Delray Beach, Fla.      4.00    Business Administration

THIRD TEAM

Name                              School                        Dist.   Yr.       Hometown                   GPA   Major

Courtney Ambrosch                              St. Francis (lll)      V                                       Sr.       Joliet, Ill.                                           4.00                      Accounting

Lauren Brown              Winona State             V      Sr.       Madison, Wis.             4.00    Biology

Kelsey Christoferson                                     Biola VIII      Sr.                                     Carlsbad, Calif.                                           3.98                    Mathematics

Emma Jaynes               Saint Benedict            V      Sr.       Hibbing, Minn.            3.85    Accounting

Morgan Magers          Heidelberg                  IV     Sr.       Green Springs, Ohio             3.97                                           Education Intervention Specialist