GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – A national champion and five additional All-Americans highlight the 2021 Atlantic Coast Conference Indoor Track and Field season honors announced on Thursday.
 
NCAA weight throw gold medalist Makenli Forrest of Louisville was selected the ACC Women’s Indoor Field Performer of the Year in a vote of the league’s head coaches. Forrest is joined by Virginia Tech’s Jacory Patterson (Men’s Indoor Track Performer of the Year), Florida State’s Isaac Grimes (Men’s Indoor Field Performer of the Year) and NC State’s Elly Henes (Women’s Indoor Track Performer of the Year).
 
Georgia Tech’s Cameron O’Neal and Florida State’s Ruta Lasmane were chosen as respective ACC Men’s and ACC Women’s Indoor Freshmen of the Year. Virginia Tech’s Dave Cianelli was voted the ACC Men’s Indoor Coach of the Year by his peers, while Florida State’s Bob Braman received the nod as ACC Women’s Coach of the Year.
 
Competing in the women’s weight throw at the Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas, earlier this month, Forrest registered a personal-best and Louisville school-record mark of 23.26 meters (76-3.75) to claim the NCAA Division I title. The mark shattered the Louisville school record of 22.76m (74-8.25) and ranked as the top collegiate indoor throw this year. Forrest also took the gold medal at the ACC Championships with a winning throw of 22.46m (73-8.25).
 
Virginia Tech’s Patterson broke his own ACC record in the men’s 400 meters with his bronze medal time of 45.14 at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The time topped his earlier league record of 45.24 set during the regular season. Patterson earned Most Valuable Men’s Track Performer at the ACC Indoor Championships as he led the Hokies to the team title with a meet record 400 time of 45.28, and he also placed first in the 200 meters with a time of 20.62.
 
Florida State’s Grimes topped the ACC record in the men’s long jump twice in 2021, including his silver medal mark of 8.35 meters (27-4.75) at the NCAA Championships that ranks fourth in the history of the event. He captured the long jump gold medal at the ACC Championships and took fourth place in the triple jump. Grimes first set a new conference long jump standard with his mark of 8.33m (27-4) at the Tyson Invitational in mid-February that broke the previous ACC and FSU mark of 8.21m (26-11.25) by former Bowerman winner Ngoni Makusha in 2009.
 
NC State’s Henes continued her stellar collegiate running career at the ACC Championships with a winning time of 9:00.53 in the 3000 meters that stood as a personal record, a school record, a facility record and a meet record. The run came less than 48 hours after her closing 1600 meters time of 4:33.80 lifted the Wolfpack DMR team from third place to an ACC gold medal finish of 11:07.64 that ranks as the best mark in school history by nearly three seconds. Henes capped the indoor season with a first-team All-America bronze medal finish of 15:49.86 in the 5000 meters at the NCAAs and earned second-team All-America honors in the 3000 meters with her time of 9:19.29.
 
Georgia Tech’s O’Neal garnered first-team All-ACC and second-team All-America honors in the long jump in his first collegiate season. After taking third place at the ACCs with mark of 7.68 meters (25-2.5), O’Neal registered a 16th-place NCAA performance after he leapt for a distance of 6.91m (22-8) on his third attempt. The freshman also had a pair of second-place finishes and one third-place finish during regular-season indoor competition.
 
Florida State’s Lasmane concluded her standout rookie indoor season with a personal-best distance of 14.15m (46-5.25) in the triple jump that earned a bronze medal at the NCAA Championships and stands as the top distance by a freshman in the history of the event. After being named the ACC Women’s Field Performer of the Week three times during the regular season, Lasmane took the gold medal at the ACC Championships with her mark of 13.53m (44-4.75). Her regular season included a winning mark of 13.83m (45-4.5) at the Tyson Invitational and one first-place finish in the long jump.
 
Virginia Tech’s Cianelli was voted the ACC Men’s Indoor Track & Field Coach of the Year for the fifth time and earned his 15th overall ACC coaching honor. The Hokies won the team title at the ACC Championships with 136 points for a 55-point margin of victory – the largest since the conference expanded to 15 teams in 2013-14. Virginia Tech had five men’s event champions and claimed 11 first-team All-ACC honors, including Patterson’s two while earning the Most Valuable Men’s Track Performer award.
 
Florida State’s Braman picked up his fourth ACC Women’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year honor and his 26th overall ACC coaching accolade. Florida State captured its fourth ACC women’s indoor championship in last month’s meet at Clemson, all of which have come since 2009 under Braman’s watch. The Seminoles’ four ACC women’s titles rank third in league history. FSU entered this year’s final day of the ACC Championship in 10th place with 10 overall points, but rallied behind a steady stream of medal performances to post 95 final points, 10 ahead of second-place Miami.