University of Maryland Athletics

The 2025 season was highlighted by Chioma Njoku earning Second Team All American honors finishing 15^thin the hammer throw at the NCAA Championships. Chioma set a new school record at NCAA First Round, finishing 6^th with a throw of 65.60m. She broke the school record two other times throughout the season en route to a 5^th place finish at B1G Championships, 2^nd at Penn Relays and 3^rd at Florida Relays in the hammer. Chioma also finished 8^th at Indoor B1G Championships in the weight throw. Additionally, Morgan Graham moved up to 2^nd All Time and 7^th All Time at Maryland in the discus and hammer, respectively. On the men’s side, freshman Fin Essley capped his season at USATF U20 Championships after throwing 59.41m in the hammer throughout the season, making him 4^th All Time at Maryland.

In 2024, Burdorff coached one of the best groups of throwers to come through College Park, highlighted by an All American finish from Kayla Thorpe, 7 NCAA First Round Qualifiers, a B1G Bronze Medal, and 4 B1G Podium finishes. Additionally, Kayla Thorpe and Mekhi Abbott set National Records in the javelin for Barbados and Virgin Islands, respectively. Morgan Graham also finished her freshman campaign at USATF U20 Championships in the discus.

Kayla Thorpe finished 9^th at NCAA Championships with a school record throw of 53.44m to earn Second Team All American honors. She went on in late June to become the Barbados National Champion, setting a new meet record. Kayla finished 3^rd at B1G Championships in the javelin, earning the Bronze Medal. Two other school records were set in 2024 on the men’s side as Mekhi Abbott threw the javelin 64.19m at NCAA First Round and Andrew Harmon won the Kehoe Twilight Meet hammer with a throw of 61.68m. Mekhi was joined on the podium at B1G Championships by Jeff Kline in the shot put and Morgan Graham in the discus, scoring in her first year. In total, the Terp throwers broke 3 school records, while adding an additional 6 marks on the Top 10 All Time Lists at Maryland.

In 2023, the Terp throwers reached new heights, breaking 3 school records en route to an additional 6 Top 10 marks throughout the year. On the men’s side, Jeff Kline began the season with a new indoor school record in the shot put, throwing 19.65m at the Navy Invitational. Kline continued to excel throughout the year, competing at the USATF Indoor Championships held in Albuquerque, where he finished 6^th with a throw of 19.14m. Jeff capped the 2023 season at the NCAA Championships in Austin, Texas – throwing 18.77m to finish 19^th and garner Honorable Mention All America honors.  Additionally on the men’s side, Luke Tobia set a new school record in the weight throw at the Clemson Tiger Paw Invite, throwing 20.40m. Tobia moved himself to #2 All Time at Maryland in the hammer throw, throwing 59.53m at the B1G Championships to finish 14th. 

Burdorff also guided the women throwers to a successful 2023 campaign. Kayla Thorpe set new standards in the javelin 3 times throughout the season, throwing a school record of 48.38m at the B1G Championships to place 6^th. Jayla Bynum also made her mark on the record book, ending the season at 5^th (indoors) and 6^th(outdoors) All Time in the shot put – throwing her best mark of 15.91m at the B1G Championships to place 10^th. Senior Kamryn Henderson ended her career as a Terp by throwing a mark of 58.50m in the hammer, the 5^th best mark in Maryland history. Bynum and Thorpe concluded the 2023 season qualifying and competing at the NCAA First Round in Jacksonville.

Burdorff joined Maryland in the fall of 2021, helping the Terp throwers make their mark straight away in the 2022 season. Indoors, the women weight throwers excelled, highlighted by a school record from Angel Nkwonta of 21.69m. Alice Barnsdale and Sarah George also made an impact, moving up to 6^th and 8^th All Time in the weight throw at Maryland, respectively. Outdoors, Alice Barnsdale scored at the B1G Championships, throwing 61.10m in the hammer to place 5^th. Barnsdale and Kline qualified and competed at the NCAA First Round in Bloomington, Indiana.

Before joining the Terps, Burdorff coached at nearby Towson University. In one season with the Tigers, the throwers set a school record, 4 freshman records, and qualified two athletes to the NCAA First Round in 3 events. Lauren Coleman was the CAA and ECAC Champion in the shot put while Kayla Thorpe finished as the CAA Runner-up in shot put and javelin in her freshman season.

Prior to Towson, Burdorff spent four years in Ithaca, NY where he coached at Ithaca College and Cornell University. In 3 years at Ithaca, he coached 1 NCAA Champion, 5 All Americans, 23 conference champions and 5 School Records. As a volunteer coach at Cornell in 2018, Burdorff assisted in the development of an NCAA First Round qualifier, 2 Heps Champions and a School Record in the shot put.

Coach Burdorff is a 2016 graduate of Baldwin Wallace University, where he earned his degree in Exercise Science. While at BW, he competed in football and track & field. Burdorff was a 3 year starter at middle linebacker and was named a team captain his senior year. Throwing for the track & field team, Burdorff was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American and the Indoor Scholar Field Athlete of the Year by USTFCCCA. He was a 2-time NCAA Runner-up and All American in the hammer and weight throw in 2016.

Burdorff holds a Master’s degree in Human Performance from Ithaca College as well as a Throws Event Specialist and Strength & Conditioning Specialist certifications from the USTFCCCA.