Burdorff Garners First-Ever USTFCCA Scholar of the Year Accolade

Posted: Jul 29, 2016

Complete USTFCCCA All-Academic Team (.pdf)

NEW ORLEANS -- Baldwin Wallace University men's track and field two-time national runner-up and All-American Tyler Burdorff '16 (Painesville/Riverside) has been honored by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) as the Division III Indoor Scholar Male Athlete of the Year. It marks the school's and Burdorff's first-ever Scholar Male Athlete of the Year accolade.

Scholar Athletes of the Year were selected as the highest finishing performers at the NCAA Division III Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field National Championship events and who achieved All-Academic status. Those who won multiple individual championship titles ranked higher in the tie-breaking process and cumulative GPA is weighed as the final tiebreaker.

Burdorff, who was a second-team CoSIDA Division III Track & Field Academic All-American, carried 3.42 grade point average in exercise science and pre-physical therapy and was a USTFCCCA All-Academic selection. He was the national runner-up at the indoor championships in the weight throw. Burdorff, who was the lone male competitor at the outdoor championships, was the national runner-up in the hammer throw. He was the 2016 OAC Champion in the weight throw, a three-time OAC outdoor champion, a five-time outdoor All-OAC performer and was the 2016 OAC Sparky Adams Most Outstanding Outdoor Field Athlete. He also was a USTFCCCA Division III Great Lakes Region Indoor Field Athlete of the Year. Burdorff also was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter at linebacker for the BW football team.

In addition Burdorff, three-time CoSIDA Academic All-American Ben Beidleman '16 (Washington, D.C./St. Anselm's Abbey) was was a USTFCCCA All-Academic selection.

To qualify for the USTFCCCA All-Academic Track & Field Team, the student athlete must have compiled a cumulative GPA of 3.3 and have met at least one of the following athletic standards: Competed in an NCAA Indoor or Outdoor Championship or finished the regular season ranked in the national Top-35 in an individual event or ranked in the national Top-25 in a relay event.

"These awards are the capstone to a fantastic 2016 season by our men's track and field program," said first-year Head Coach Matthew Cole, who was named as the NCAA Division III Indoor Track & Field National Coach of the Year. "This is a terrific honor for our teams and we plan to continue to build upon our successes to hold ourselves to the highest levels possible, both academically and athletically."

BW opens the 2017 indoor season on Saturday, January 14 when it travels to Alliance for a dual meet against the University of Mount Union in the Peterson Fieldhouse. The Yellow Jackets host the first of three home indoor meets with the Dr. William Taraschke Classic on Friday, January 27 on the Harrison Dillard Track inside the Lou Higgins Center Fieldhouse. BW is also the host for the 2017 OAC Indoor Track and Field Championships on February 24-25 in Berea.