Six Terps Earn Academic All-District Honors - University of Maryland Athletics (2024)

Track & Field 6/21/2024 4:00:00 PM

COLLEGE PARK, MD – A total of six members of the Maryland track & field and cross country programs earned Academic All-District honors as announced by the College Sports Communicators.

Tolu Akinduro, Jayla Bynum, Anna Coffin, and Chioma Njoku represented the women's program, while Eric Albright and Rhys Allen earned the distinction on the men's side.

To be named to the CSC Academic All-District team, student-athletes required at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average and be at least a sophom*ore in academic and athletic standing. Nominees also had to rank among the top 50 of the TFRRS.org regional rankings in at least a single event for track and field or placed among the top 50 at the 2023 NCAA regional meet during the cross country season.

Tolu Akinduro – Women's Indoor/Outdoor Track & Field
Sophom*ore - Public Health Science - Silverstone, Ontario
2024 Academic All-Big Ten
Ranked 8th in the region during the outdoor season for the triple jump (41' 6") and was 13th during the indoor season (40' 11.75"). Also ranked among the top-50 regionally in the 400 hurdles (35th, 1:02.36) and long jump (37th, 18' 2.25") during the outdoor campaign. Akinduro reached the NCAA East First Round meet during this past outdoor season. She set both her personal-records in the 400 hurdles and long jump at the Kehoe Twilight Meet in May and her mark in the triple jump at the Virginia Challenge. Her effort at the Virginia Challenge is the fifth-best triple jump in program history.

Jayla Bynum– Women's Indoor/Outdoor Track & Field
Senior - Sociology - Hutchinson, KS
2023, 2024 Academic All-Big Ten
Ranked third in the region for both indoor (51' 6.25") and outdoor (51' 6.5") shot put. Bynum qualified for the NCAA First Round meet in the shot put this past spring and reached the NCAA East Prelims in both the 2022 and 2023 outdoor seasons. Her career-best mark in the outdoor shot put came during the 2023 Big Ten Championships (52' 2.5") where she placed 10^thoverall – a performance which ranks as the sixth-best in program history. Her toss of 51-feet, 6.25 inches at the Hokie Invitational this spring ranks fifth all-time in program history.

Anna Coffin– Women's Cross Country and Indoor/Outdoor Track & Field
Graduate - Geospatial Data Science - Annapolis, MD
2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Academic All-Big Ten
2021 Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award
Three top-20 regional rankings on the year - 13th in the 1,500 meters (4:19.99) during the outdoor season as well as 19th in the mile (4:45.33) and 20th in the 3,000 meters (9:31.58) during the indoor season. Also ranked 35th (2:12.62) and 39th (2:10.42) in the indoor and outdoor 800 meters, respectively. During the cross country season, she placed 39th at the NCAA Regional Meet. Coffin also competed in the NCAA East First Round meet during the outdoor season. The graduate student finished her career ranked second in the 3,000 meters (9:31.58), and third in the mile (4:45.33), third in the 1,500 meters (4:19.99). She was a member of the school record-setting 4x800 relay squad at the Penn Relays with a time of 8-minutes, 42.96 seconds. She also was part of the fifth-ranked 4x800 squad (2024 Penn Relays) and the ninth-ranked quartet (2022 Penn Relays). Additionally, in 2022, she was a member of the distance medley relay team that holds the fifth-fastest time in program history set at the Big Ten Indoor Championships.

Chioma Njoku– Women's Indoor Track & Field
Senior - Management Studies - Newark, DE
Top-ranked weight thrower in the region (69' 9") during the indoor season who also ranked 22nd nationally. Njoku set her top mark of the season, and the second-best throw in program history, at the Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational in Feburary before then taking sixth at the USATF Indoor Championships and 11^that the Big Ten Indoor Championships in the weight throw. Prior to competing at Maryland, Njoku was a thrower at Delaware where she three-time medalist at the CAA Championships with a second-place showing in the weight throw in 2023 and a pair of runner-up finishes in the hammer throw in 2021 and 2022.

Eric Albright– Men's Indoor/Outdoor Track & Field
Junior - Mechanical Engineering - Glen Mills, PA
2023, 2024 Academic All-Big Ten
Ranked 11^thregionally in the 800 meters (1:48.26) during the outdoor season and was 16^thduring the indoor season (1:49.82). Also a member of the 4x400 relay team during the outdoor campaign that ranked 18^thregionally (3:16.09). Albright also turned in a top-10 finish at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships taking seventh with a time of 1:49.13. During the 2023-24 academic year, Albright turned in personal-best times in four different events between the two seasons: 400 meters-outdoor (50.13 seconds), 800 meters-outdoor (1:48.26), 1,000 meters-indoor (2:23.23), and the mile-indoor (4:09.56). His PRs in the indoor 800 meters and the 1,000 meters stand as the Maryland indoor records. He also holds the outdoor record in the 800 meters and was a member of the school record-setting 4x800 relay team at the 2023 Penn Relays. He also is a member of the second and fourth-ranked 4x800 relay teams at Maryland and the second-ranked distance medley relay squad.

Rhys Allen– Men's Indoor/Outdoor Track & Field
Sophom*ore - Economics - Southampton, England
2024 Academic All-Big Ten
During the outdoor season, ranked fifth in the discus (184' 10") regionally, while he was 11^thin the shot put (56' 3.75") during the indoor season. He also moved up to 14^thin the region in the shot put with a mark of 56' 1.25" at the Penn Relays. Allen had two wins in the discus during this past outdoor season (Maryland Invitational, Kehoe Twilight Meet) and finished runner-up at the George Mason Ebanks Invitational. He also won the shot put at the Maryland Invitational and finished second at the Ebanks Invitational. He also placed second in the shot put at the Hokie Invitational and third at the Navy Invitational during the indoor season. His throw of 184-feet, 10-inches during the outdoor season stands as the sixth-best throw in program history, while he also ranks 10^thall-time with his PR for the indoor shot put.