GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – The Atlantic Coast Conference recognized individual award winners for the 2021 Outdoor Track and Field season on Wednesday.
Florida State leads all schools with three honorees, as voted upon by the league’s head coaches. Duke, Miami, NC State, Notre Dame and Virginia each had one student-athlete or coach recognized.
The list of conference award winners includes one NCAA champion, five NCAA medalists and six first-team All-Americans.
After setting an NCAA record in the 1,500 meters, Yared Nuguse of Notre Dame was chosen the ACC Men’s Track Performer of the Year for the second consecutive outdoor season. NC State senior Elly Henes, who captured the gold medal in the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Championships, was voted the ACC Women’s Track Performer of the Year.
A pair of NCAA silver medalists claimed league Field Performer of the Year honors – Florida State long-jumper Isaac Grimes and ACC women’s heptathlon record-holder Michelle Atherley of Miami.
Virginia discus thrower Claudio Romero was voted ACC Men’s Freshman of the Year after setting an ACC record during NCAA East Regional competition and taking the bronze medal at the NCAA Championships. Florida State triple jumper/long jumper Ruta Lasmane earned Women’s Freshman of the Year honors.
Florida State’s Bob Braman was voted the ACC Men’s Coach of the Year, and Duke’s Shawn Wilbourn is the ACC Women’s Coach of the Year.
Grimes, Henes and Lasmane earned season honors for the second time this academic year after also being recognized at the conclusion of the ACC indoor season. FSU’s Braman was earlier voted the 2021 ACC Women’s Indoor Track and Field Coach of the Year.
Notre Dame’s Nuguse claimed the men’s 1,500 gold medal at the ACC Championships hosted by NC State with a time of 3:40.86 that was not even his fastest of the event. Nuguse seized the national spotlight in the preliminaries on May 13, when he clocked a 3:34.68 time that set the all-time collegiate record, established ACC meet and Paul Derr Track facility records, reset the ACC overall record and improved on his own Notre Dame school record.
Nuguse went on to run the fastest time ever in the NCAA Championship’s 1,500 preliminary at Eugene, Oregon, and placed second two nights later in the final with a time of 3:35.60 that stands as the seventh-fastest in NCAA history. The Louisville, Kentucky, junior now owns three of the top 11 all-time NCAA men’s 1,500m marks on record.
NC State’s Henes turned heads in the April 30 regular-season finale, when she posted a 5,000 meters time of 15:18.75 at the West Coast Relays that ranks 12th in NCAA women’s outdoor collegiate history. The time bested the school record by more than 12 seconds. She then took the gold medal at the ACC Championships with a meet record time of 15:34.69.
Henes finished strong at the NCAA finals, where she claimed her first career national title with a 5K run of 15:28.05. The Cary, North Carolina, native placed sixth at the Olympic Trials earlier this week with a time of 15:47.73. Henes was the only collegiate runner to reach the finals.
After a record-setting indoor season with Florida State, Grimes continued to excel in the long jump outdoors, culminating with his silver medal mark of 8.05 meters (26-5). It was the second NCAA silver medal of the year for the Moreno Valley, California, native, who placed second at the Indoor nationals with his jump of 8.35 meters.
Grimes ranked among the nation’s leaders throughout the outdoor season and posted a season-best mark of 8.07m (26-5.75). He claimed the gold medal at the ACC Championships with a mark of 7.75 meters (25-5.5.25) and qualified at the NCAA Regionals with a distance of 8.02m (260-3.75).
Having had no remaining eligibility for the 2020 and 2021 indoor seasons, Miami’s Atherley made the most of her chance to return to collegiate competition in nearly two full years. The North Port, Florida, native posted an ACC-record score of 6,100 points in heptathlon at the Hurricane Alumni Invitational on April 10.
Atherley took the gold medal at the ACC Championships with her score of 6,019, and she nearly matched her ACC record while taking the silver at the NCAA Championships with her mark of 6,075.
After setting Virginia men’s discus school records and placing among the national leaders throughout the regular season, Romero delivered the performance of his young career in the NCAA East Regional, as he hit a throw of 65.78 meters (215-10) that broke a 25-year-old ACC record. The Santiago, Chile, native took the bronze at the NCAA finals with a throw of 61.36 meters.
Romero had earlier won the discus title at the ACC Outdoor Championships with a throw 61.21m (200-10). Romero also owned a season best in the shot put of 18.47 meters (60-7.25) and placed sixth at the ACC Outdoor Championships in that event.
Florida State’s Lasmane capped her stellar freshman women’s season with a fifth-place triple jump mark of 13.91 meters (45-7.75) in the NCAA finals. That followed a gold medal showing in the ACC Championship finals, where her personal best jump of 14.20 meters (46-7.25) on her fifth attempt netted the gold medal while setting the meet and facility record.
Lasmane also competed in the long jump at the ACC Championships, where she earned second-team honors with her sixth-place mark of 6.17 meters (20-3).
Braman’s Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year honor is his 27th overall coaching accolade in track & field (indoor and outdoor) and cross country with FSU. The Seminole men won their 13th team championship and first since 2018 this season, 11 of which have come under Braman’s watch. FSU piled up 136 team points at the ACC final, the most by any men’s team since the Seminoles scored 149 in 2013.
FSU then led all ACC teams at the NCAA finals with a 10th-place team finish after earning an ACC-leading 14 spots in the Championship field. The Florida State men held the No. 6 spot in the final USTFCCCA Rating Index of the 2021 outdoor season.
Wilbourn, in his first full season as Duke’s head coach, led the Blue Devils to the ACC Women’s Co-Championship. The ACC title was the first in program history for the Blue Devils, who captured the 4x400 relay in the final event of the meet to come from seven points down and tie FSU in the team scoring with 110 points.
Duke scored nine points in NCAA competition to finish 32nd. Eight Blue Devil women earned trips to Eugene. Duke collected USTFCCCA First Team All-America honors in three events – the heptathlon, 4x400m relay and 100m hurdles, for the most since 2011. Wilbourn’s ACC Outdoor Track and Field Coach of the Year honor is the first for the Blue Devils since the conference began handing out the award in 1984.