Virginia Tech redshirt freshman Ryan Williams has shattered the ACC's freshman rushing record of 1,265 yards set last year.
Virginia Tech redshirt freshman Ryan Williams has shattered the ACC's freshman rushing record of 1,265 yards set last year.

The ACC Hot List

A weekly list of notable accomplishments from around the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Nov. 24, 2009

FOOTBALL

  • Virginia Tech’s Cody Grimm forced an NCAA-record three fumbles last Saturday against NC State and now leads the nation in forced fumbles, with 7 this season in 11 games, a 0.64 per-game average.
  • For the fifth consecutive year the Atlantic Coast Conference leads the nation in the NCAA’s graduation success rate (GSR), with a 72.33 average. Duke leads all FBS schools with a graduation rate of 96 percent for its football classes which began school during the 1999 through 2002 seasons.
  • For the first time in its history, the ACC will witness 9,000-yard passers competing against each other on the same field when Wake Forest’s Riley Skinner (9,390 yards) and Duke’s Thaddeus Lewis (9,678 yards) face each other this Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium. There will be a bit of symmetry as well, as both QBs made their first starts against each other on Sept. 9, 2006 at then-Groves Stadium in Winston-Salem and they will make the final collegiate starts of their careers against each other this Saturday in Durham.
  • Florida State redshirt freshman Greg Reid leads the nation in punt returns this week averaging 18.42 yards per return. The Seminole cornerback returned one punt 68 yards for a score against Wake Forest earlier this year.
  • Virginia Tech redshirt freshman Ryan Williams has rushed for 1,355 yards this year. The Manassas, Va., native has shattered the ACC’s freshman rushing record of 1,265 yards set last year by his teammate Darren Evens, who is sitting out 2009 with a knee injury suffered in pre-season practice.
  • Clemson RB C.J. Spiller is one of three finalists for the Doak Walker Award and he also set yet another ACC record this past Saturday, breaking the 10-year old single season mark for all-purpose yardage. Spiller, who now has 2,066 yards this year, bettered the previous standard of 2,054 set in 1999 by Virginia’s Thomas Jones.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

  • ACC teams are 45-8 in early-season non-conference play with five teams - Duke (7), North Carolina (12), Clemson (19), Maryland (22) and Georgia Tech (25) listed in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ poll, and four teams - Duke (7), North Carolina (11), Clemson (19) and Maryland (21) - ranked in this week’s AP poll.
  • Florida State’s Xavier Gibson and Solomon Alabi rank 1-2 among ACC leaders in blocked shots while Clemson’s Trevor Booker leads all active ACC players in career rebounds (832) and blocked shots (209).
  • Georgia Tech’s Gani Lawal has pulled down 12 or more rebounds in three of the Yellow Jackets’ four games and leads the ACC in rebounding averaging 11.8 a game.
  • North Carolina’s Deon Thompson has now scored 1,008 points in his UNC career after dropping 22 points on Gardner-Webb.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

  • Nine Atlantic Coast Conference women’s basketball players were named to the Naismith Trophy preseason candidate list. The watch list, consisting of 50 student-athletes, was compiled by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s Board of Selectors, which based its criteria on player performances from the previous year and expectations for the 2009-10 college basketball season. The ACC is the only league to have eight teams represented on the preseason list and owns the most student-athletes of any conference named to the candidate list.
  • NC State head coach Kellie Harper earned her 100th career win as the Wolfpack defeated in-state foe Davidson, 79-54, on Friday, November 20. Harper, who spent the last five seasons at the helm of Western Carolina, currently owns a 101-66 career mark.
  • The sixth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers played for only the second time in Charlottesville, Va., on Sunday. Despite handing the Cavaliers a 77-63 loss, the two programs brought in a new women’s basketball record crowd of 11,895 fans.
  • Florida State posted a perfect 13-0 record on the road last year and picked up where it left off on Tuesday with a 66-62 win at Florida, followed by a 66-53 victory at Georgia State in Atlanta on Sunday. The Seminoles, who have played three games in just six days, have now won 15-straight road games, dating back to a 92-84 loss at Maryland late in the 2007-08 season.

MEN’S SOCCER

  • The ACC led all conferences with seven teams selected to the 2009 NCAA Tournament Field of 48 and continues to lead all other leagues as the ACC sends six on to the Round of 16, which will take place on Sunday, Nov. 29. Of the six ACC programs remaining, three (#2 Virginia, #3 Wake Forest, #5 North Carolina) earned a top 16 national seed in the tournament, including three of the top five spots, while Boston College, Maryland and Duke, all of which were at-large selections, posted upsets to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
  • Boston College, which defeated 13th-seeded and 14th-ranked St. John’s in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, advances to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2002. The 1-0 win over St. John’s snapped the Red Storm’s 21-game home win streak, during which St. Jonn’s went 17-0-4.
  • Virginia freshman Will Bates had a hat trick in his NCAA Tournament debut, while goalkeeper and ACC Tournament MVP Diego Restrepo posted his ninth consecutive shutout to lead the Cavaliers into the NCAA’s Round of 16 with a 5-0 victory over visiting Bucknell. Bates paces the Cavaliers’ offense as the newcomer boasts 11 goals on the season. Restrepo made five saves in net for Virginia to post his ninth consecutive shutout and extended his school-record total to 13 shutouts this season. Restrepo also broke Tony Meola’s school record for consecutive shutout minutes, with his streak now at 927:34. Meola had a shutout streak of 891:25 during the 1988 season.
  • Last season, the ACC became the only league in NCAA Tournament history to place three teams in the same College Cup. And for the first time in NCAA history, the NCAA had two teams from the same conference competing for the national title (Maryland vs. North Carolina, 2008).

WOMEN’S SOCCER

  • The ACC leads all conferences with four teams (North Carolina, Florida State, Boston College and Wake Forest) among the Final Eight in the NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Tournament. With North Carolina playing host to Wake Forest in Friday’s quarterfinal round, the ACC is assured of having at least one team in the Women’s College Cup (Final Four) on Dec. 4 and 6 at College Station, Texas.
  • Boston College, which travels to top-ranked Stanford on Friday, joins Wake Forest as a first-time quarterfinal participant while the Seminoles are making their fifth trip to the Final Eight in the last six years.
  • Defending national champion North Carolina is in the Round of Eight for the 26th time in 28 years. North Carolina’s senior class owns an overall 91-9-4 record (.894 winning percentage) which is tops in the nation over the past four years.

FIELD HOCKEY

  • Third-ranked North Carolina defeated top-ranked Maryland, 3-2 in the 2009 NCAA Field Hockey Championship game to earn the school’s sixth NCAA title in field hockey and the 15th NCAA field hockey crown for the ACC since 1987.
  • Maryland’s Nicole Muracco became the first Terp in school history to score 30 goals in a season and finished her career at Maryland with a school-record 85 goals, which ranks third all-time in the ACC, while North Carolina junior midfielder Katelyn Falgowski finished the season with 26 assists to run her career total to 48, which ranks second all-time at North Carolina.
  • Virginia made its third overall appearance in the NCAA semifinals and first since 1998. This season the Cavaliers set program records for wins in a season (20) and games played (24) while Boston College senior All-ACC forward Chelsey Feole scored a school-record 26 goals this season and tallied 64 points, also a school record.

VOLLEYBALL

  • Clemson senior defensive specialist Didem Ege broke the Atlantic Coast Conference record for career digs and now has 2,272. Ege broke the record of 2,238 previously held by North Carolina’s Brianna Eskola (2005-08) with her sixth dig in a 3-1 win over Virginia Tech. She is also the league’s all-time leader with 4.90 digs per set over 464 sets played.
  • No. 14 Florida State clinched its first Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title with a 3-0 win against Boston College and earned the league’s automatic qualifying bid to the 2009 NCAA Championship.
  • Duke posted wins over NC State and North Carolina over the weekend to secure its fourth consecutive 25-win season, the longest active streak in the ACC. Duke senior outside hitter Rachael Moss ranks fourth all-time at Duke in three categories with 1,653 kills; 1,531 digs; and 167 service aces.

WRESTLING

  • Tenth-ranked Maryland scored one of the biggest dual wins in program history edging fourth-ranked Cornell, 18-17. A pin by third-ranked Hudson Taylor at 197 pounds and a sudden-victory by heavyweight Patrick Gilmore over 12th-ranked Josh Arnone allowed the Terps to rally from eight points down in their final two matches.
  • Virginia Tech’s Jesse Dong won the Navy Classic title at 157 pounds in Annapolis. Dong started with two major decisions before beating the No. 3 seed 2-0 in the semifinals. In the championship Dong beat top-seeded and 11th-ranked Bryce Sadoris of Navy 4-0 for the title.
  • Ranked No. 1 nationally at heavyweight, Duke redshirt senior Konrad Dudziak continued his winning streak with three victories to bring home the 2009 Keystone Classic title. Dudziak registered a fall in the semifinal match and only sacrificed one point in the three matches. The tournament title is Dudziak’s second of the season in as many tournaments. He is 7-0 overall on the year.

SWIMMING & DIVING

  • Georgia Tech sophomore Nigel Plummer continues to hold the top times in the ACC this season in the 50-yard freestyle and the 100-yard freestyle while winning the 50-yard freestyle in three straight meets.
  • Virginia Tech sophomore Erika Hajnal’s times in the 500-yard and 1,650-yard freestyle events, respectively, lead the ACC this season.
  • Georgia Tech Freshman Kristine Polley helped the Yellow Jackets to a first-place showing at the Georgia Tech Invitational with first-place finishes in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard breaststroke in addition to competing on the winning 400-yard medley relay team. She also placed second in the 200-yard individual medley and swam a leg of the 200-yard medley relay.

CROSS COUNTRY

  • The Florida State Seminoles women’s cross country team captures second place at the NCAA Cross Country Championships by posting five 'Noles in the top 46 to score 133 points. Three Seminoles earned NCAA All-American status for their top 40 finishes led by team captain Susan Kuijken who finished in third place. Newcomer Pasca Cheruiyot was the second 'Nole to finish in 15th while freshman Amanda Winslow set a new personal record on her way to a 33rd place finish.
  • The Virginia Cavalier’s men's and women's cross country teams both finished in 15th place at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. For the women Catherine White earned All-America honors with a fourth-place finish. Ryan Collins was the highest finisher for the men with a 41st-place finish.
  • Duke’s women’s cross country team finished in eighth place at the NCAA Cross Country Championships to record their best showing since 2005. Carly Seymour earned All-America honors for the Blue Devils while NC State’s Ryan Hill and Emily Pritt became NC State's first All-Americans since 2006.
  • Virginia Junior Catherine White and Florida State Senior Susan Kuijken have been named as two of the four nominees for the 2009-10 Honda Sports Award for cross country.