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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Four student-athletes who recently won national championships at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships highlight a group of eight individuals who have been recognized as 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference Outdoor Track & Field annual award recipients, as announced today by Commissioner John Swofford. The eight honorees represent five league schools and were chosen by a vote of the league’s head coaches.

Virginia Tech claimed two honors on the women’s side as senior Dorotea Habazin was tabbed the 2011 ACC Women’s Outdoor Field Performer of the Year and Samira Burkhardt was honored as the Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Freshman of the Year. Miami senior Ti’erra Brown was named the Women’s Outdoor Track Performer of the Year, while Clemson’s Lawrence Johnson earned Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year accolades. Burkhardt and Johnson were repeat award recipients from the indoor season.

Junior Maurice Mitchell was selected as the 2011 ACC Men’s Outdoor Track Performer of the Year, while his classmate Ngoni Makusha was named the Men’s Outdoor Field Performer of the Year. Their coach, Bob Braman, was honored as the Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Coach of the Year. Virginia’s Anthony Kostelac was recognized as the Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Freshman of the Year. Mitchell and Kostelac repeated as recipients from the indoor season.

Habazin is Virginia Tech’s first ACC Women’s Outdoor Field Performer of the Year since the creation of the award in 2007. She set both the conference and championship records in the hammer throw at the ACC Championship with a mark of 224-3.00 (68.36m), distancing herself from second place by more than 42 feet. The senior from Zagreb, Croatia, bested the conference mark set in 2002 by almost four feet and the championship toss, also set in 2002, by more than 18. It marked her third title in the event in four years after she won back-to-back championships in 2008 and 2009. After qualifying for the national meet, she became the fifth individual and second female student-athlete to earn a national title at Virginia Tech, taking top honors in the hammer throw with a toss of 223-7 (68.15). The runner-up at last year’s national meet, she is now a three-time All-American in the event. Habazin won six of her seven hammer throw competitions during the season.

Burkhardt became Virginia Tech’s first ACC Women’s Outdoor Track & Field Freshman of the Year since Kristi Castlin in 2007. The Stuttgart, Germany, native was also named the ACC Women’s Indoor Track & Field Freshman of the Year earlier this year, becoming just the fifth female to receive the two accolades since 2000, the first year with both honors awarded. She registered a mark of 52-3.25 (15.93m) in the shot put at the ACC Championship to claim top honors, giving Virginia Tech its third title in the event. At the national meet, Burkhardt collected the second All-America honor of her career, finishing fifth. Her mark of 56-1 (17.09m) set a new school record and is also a season best in the conference.

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