Upcoming Event: Track & Field versus ACC Outdoor Championships on May 14, 2026
Track & Field
vs ACC Outdoor Championships
Duke's Redick, Maryland's Infante Named ACC Athletes Of The Year
PONTE VEDRA, Fla. - Duke basketball player J.J. Redick, winner of the Sullivan Award as the country’s top amateur athlete, and national field hockey player-of-the-year Paula (pronounced POW-lah) Infante, who led her Maryland team to the 2005 NCAA Championship, are the 2005-06 Atlantic Coast Conference Male and Female Athletes of the Year.
Redick receives the “Anthony J. McKevlin Award” as the league’s top male performer. That award, named in honor of the former sports editor of the Raleigh News & Observer, has been presented since the formation of the ACC in 1954.
Infante is recipient of the “Mary Garber Award,” named for the former Winston-Salem Journal reporter and a pioneer for women in the field of sports journalism. That award was established in 1990 to honor the league’s top female athlete.
Both honorees were selected in voting by 73 members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association.
Redick received 33 votes as the McKevlin Award winner. Florida State’s Garrett Johnson, NCAA champion in the indoor and outdoor shot put, was second with 11 votes. Jason Garey of Maryland, who earned national player-of-the-year honors in leading the Terps to the 2005 national title in soccer, was named on 10 ballots.
Voting for the Garber Award was closer with Infante earning 22 votes. Lacy Janson, Florida State’s NCAA champion and record-setting pole-vaulter, was runner-up with 15 votes, while another national champion, North Carolina shot putter Laura Gerraughty, was third with 14 votes.
“I am thrilled to win this award,” Redick said. “I was fortunate to win numerous awards during my Duke career, largely because of my teammates and coaches. Any individual success was as much from their effort as mine. Winning the award as the top male athlete in the ACC means a great deal to me because the league has always been such a big part of my life. As in any year, there were many deserving candidates and I am honored to be recognized in this way.”
This past year Redick led the Blue Devils to a 32-4 record and the ACC regular season and tournament championships. He was the consensus national basketball player of the year, capturing the Wooden, Naismith, Rupp and AP awards, and sharing that honor with Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison as voted on by the U.S. Basketball Writers and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. As a senior, he became the ACC all-time scoring leader with 2,769 career points while setting the NCAA record with 457 three-point field goals.
Infante sparked the Terps to both ACC and NCAA field hockey titles and a 23-2 overall record while earning the Honda Award as the country’s premier individual performer in that sport. Still just a junior, she has been named a first-team All-American all three years of her Maryland career. She is a native of Santiago, Chile, and is currently playing for her country’s national team in Italy.
“This is a great honor for Paula,” Maryland field hockey head coach Missy Meharg said. “She’s an extraordinary athlete, an outstanding student and an amazing mother (of four-year-old son, Agustin). I speak for her teammates, the staff and the administration when I say we’re very proud of her. What she has given to Maryland and the wonderful mother she is -- it is amazing.”
