GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.com) – National champions Olivia Markezich of Notre Dame and Julia Fixsen of Virginia Tech lead the list of 2023 Atlantic Coast Conference Outdoor Track and Field season award winners announced Thursday afternoon.
Markezich was chosen the ACC Women’s Outdoor Track Performer of the Year in a vote of the league’s head coaches, while Fixsen was voted Women’s Outdoor Field Performer of the Year. Markezich won the gold medal in the 3K steeplechase at the NCAA Division I Championships earlier this month, while Fixsen took the top spot in the pole vault.
Syracuse 110-meter hurdles bronze medalist Jaheem Hayles is the Men’s Outdoor Track Performer of the Year, while Virginia javelin silver medalist Ethan Dabbs earned Outdoor Field Performer of the Year honors. A pair of All-Americans – Virginia Tech men’s middle-distance runner Nick Plant and Florida State women’s sprinter Dajaz DeFrand – were chosen as the Outdoor Season Freshmen of the Year.
Clemson’s Mark Elliott was voted the ACC Men’s Outdoor Coach of the Year, while Duke’s Shawn Wilbourn earned Women’s Coach of the Year accolades. Each guided his team to a first-place finish at last month’s ACC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Markezich, who has established herself as one of the nation’s elite competitors in several distance events over the past three seasons, set a Mike A. Myers Stadium facility record with her winning time of 9:25.03 in the June 10 NCAA final at Austin, Texas, while lowering her personal best by nearly 11 seconds. The Notre Dame runner’s effort ranks No. 3 in collegiate history and is just a shade behind the ACC record of 9:24.02 set by Florida State’s Colleen Quigley in 2015.
A native of Woodinville, Washington, Markezich put an exclamation point on a 2023 outdoor season in which she claimed the gold in the steeplechase with a league record time at the ACC Championships and placed first in the 5000 meters at the Raleigh Relays.
Virginia Tech’s Fixsen matched her career outdoor best in claiming the NCAA women’s pole vault. The native of Shoreview, Minnesota in her second year at Virginia Tech after beginning her career at Georgia, cleared the bar on her first attempt at 4.45 meters (14-7.25).
It capped a stellar 2022-23 season for Fixsen, who also took first place at last month’s ACC Outdoor Championships, placed second at the ACC Indoors in February and was a second-team NCAA Indoor All-American.
Syracuse’s Hayles posted a personal-best time of 13.28 as he claimed the bronze medal in the NCAA 110-meter hurdles, leading all fellow ACC competitors in the talented field and placing just .04 behind the winner. Hayles’ time was also a school record, beating Freddie Crittenden's previous best of 13.42.
Hayles, a native of Newark, New Jersey who also earned first-team All-ACC honors during the regular season, competed in the NCAA finals for the third consecutive year.
Virginia’s Dabbs won his fourth consecutive ACC title in the men’s javelin, becoming the first to ever accomplish the feat. He went on to finish as the NCAA runner-up in the javelin for the second consecutive season earning All-American honors for the third time in his career. His season-best mark of 80.82 meters (265-2) won the Virginia Challenge, setting a meet and facility record.
A native of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Dabbs threw more than 72.90 meters in all five competitions over the course of the season.
Virginia Tech’s Plant took first place in the 800 meters at the ACC Championships with a time of 1:47.41, and the Canfield, Ohio, freshman was even faster during qualifying for the event with a time of 1:47.18 that ranked as the third-fastest in program history.
During the regular season, Plant placed second in the 800 meters at the Mt. SAC Relays with a time of 1:48.71 and third at the Beach Invitational (1:48.73). He also clocked a personal-best 1500 meters time of 3:46.08 at the Toms Alumni Invitational, finishing second.
Florida State’s DeFrand earned first-team All-America honors at the NCAA Outdoor Finals after finishing eighth in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.08. DeFrand was the ACC Indoor and Outdoor Women’s Track Most Valuable Performer after placing first in both the 100 meters (11.18) and 200 meters (22.67) while also running a leg on the Seminoles’ second place 4x100 relay team.
DeFrand, who hails from Lincoln, Nebraska, qualified for the national finals with a personal best time of 11.05 in the 100 meters at the NCAA East Regional in late May. She just missed advancing in the 200 meters as well, finishing just 12/100ths of a second away from a qualifying spot.
Clemson’s Elliott coached the Tigers to their first ACC Men’s Outdoor Championship since 2004 and sent six entries to the NCAA National Finals. Clemson entered the ACC finals in 10th place but battled back to win by a single point in one of the most thrilling finishes in meet history. Elliott, who just wrapped up his 10th season as the Tigers’ program director, added this year’s men’s outdoor championship to his 2015 women’s conference title.
Following a Duke women’s season that featured an ACC Championship, 13 NCAA qualifiers, 33 top-five program marks set and four program records broken, the Blue Devils’ Wilbourn earned ACC Outdoor Coach of the Year honors for the second time in three years. Duke won the ACC Women’s Championship going away, totaling a resounding meet-record 145.5 points, breaking the previous record of 134 by Florida State in 2019. The 2023 campaign also saw Wilbourn lead the Blue Devils to their highest USTFCCCA ranking in program history, checking in at No. 4 in the Week 2 rankings.
Both Elliott and Wilbourn were also named Southeast Region Head Coaches of the Year by the USTFCCCA.
2023 Outdoor Track & Field Season Honors
ACC Men’s Track Performer of the Year – Jaheem Hayles, Syracuse
ACC Men’s Field Performer of the Year – Ethan Dabbs, Virginia
ACC Men’s Freshman of the Year – Nick Plant, Virginia Tech
ACC Men’s Coach of the Year – Mark Elliott, Clemson
ACC Women’s Track Performer of the Year – Olivia Markezich, Notre Dame
ACC Women’s Field Performer of the Year – Julia Fixsen, Virginia Tech
ACC Women’s Freshman of the Year – Dajaz DeFrand, Florida State
ACC Women’s Coach of the Year – Shawn Wilbourn, Duke