MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee soccer standout Peyton DePriest was recognized Wednesday as one of 14 recipients of the Conference USA Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarship Award, as announced by the conference office.

DePriest earned a degree in exercise science with a 3.94 grade point average and is in graduate school for leisure, sport and tourism management.

DePriest tied for the team lead in goals in 2021 and is the all-time program leader in goals scored with 46, which is just one shy of the Conference USA record. She is a three-time C-USA first-team selection and a two-time Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year honoree.

This is the 13th year the award has been named for Dr. Castañeda, who served Rice University for 46 years as an educator, coach, and Faculty Athletics Representative before he passed away in November 2008. The conference annually awards the $4,000 postgraduate scholarships to graduates as selected by the C-USA Faculty Athletics Representatives and approved by the Board of Directors.

Middle Tennessee Recipients by Year

2014 – Laken Leonard, Women's Basketball
2015 – Leighton Gasque, Football
2016 – Nayara Moraes, Women's Tennis
2017 – Max Linder, Football
2018 – Jenna Burris, Women's Golf
2019 – Scheldon Paulk, Baseball
2020 – Tanner Owens, Men's Golf
2021 – Peyton DePriest, Soccer