University of Virginia swimmer Gretchen Walsh is the recipient of the 2024 Mary Garber Award which honors the top female student athlete in the ACC every year. She is the third University of Virginia student-athlete to win the award since it was established in 1990 and the first swimmer to be named the ACC’s Male or Female Athlete of the Year. Walsh won the maximum seven NCAA event titles and led Virginia to a fourth-straight NCAA team title.
Notre Dame lacrosse player Pat Kavanagh won the 2024 Anthony J. McKevlin Award as the conference’s top male athlete after leading the Irish to their 2nd-straight National Championship, dominating Maryland 15-5 in the championship game.
“Gretchen and Pat are truly exceptional representatives of the ACC and have dominated in their respective sports,” said ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, Ph.D. “Their outstanding athletic and academic achievements stand out not only in the ACC but nationally, and they are extremely deserving of this prestigious honor. This past year has been another phenomenal one for the ACC and we remain incredibly proud of our student-athletes, coaches and programs.”
Walsh earned the 35th Mary Garber Award as the ACC’s most outstanding female athlete, becoming only the third Virginia student-athlete to claim the honor, joining Dawn Staley (women’s basketball) in 1991 and 1992 and Morgan Brian (women’s soccer) in 2015.
Named the 2024 Honda Award winner for swimming & diving, the Nashville, Tennessee, native won seven NCAA titles to help lead the Cavaliers to the program’s fourth consecutive NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship title. At the NCAA Championships, she set American, US Open and NCAA records in the 50 free (20.37), 100 fly (47.42) and 100 free (44.83) on top of helping lead the 400-medley relay team to an NCAA record (3:21.01) time at the NCAA Championships. She was also part of the NCAA championship relay teams for both the 200-free relay (1:24.05) and 400-free relay (3:05.89), and the 200-medley relay (1:31.58).
She also split 19.95 in the 50 free on a relay, becoming the first woman to ever break the unthinkable 20-second barrier.
Tabbed the Most Valuable Swimmer at the 2024 ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships, Walsh set the meet, pool, ACC, American, NCAA, and US Open records in the 50 free (20.57), 100 free (45.16) and 100 butterfly (48.25) at the ACC Championships. She was also part of the first-place 200 relay (1:23.63) that set pool, meet, ACC, US Open, and NCAA records at the conference championship meet.
In addition to her athletic achievements, Walsh was also named the 2023-24 ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for swimming & diving and earned a spot on the 2024 College Sports Communicators’ (CSC) Academic All-America First Team. She recently qualified for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team in the 100 fly, 50 free, and 4×100 relay, and set the World Record (55.18) in the semifinals of the 50 free at the USA Olympic Trials.
Walsh received 31 votes to lead the Garber Award balloting, followed by Virginia Tech’s Elizabeth Kitley (women’s basketball) with 13 votes and Boston College’s Sydney Scales (women’s lacrosse) with six votes.
The award is named after Mary Garber. Garber, of the Winston-Salem (North Carolina) Journal, was a pioneer as one of the first female sports journalists in the nation.
Basketball players have been responsible for the majority of ACC Athletes of the Year in the basketball-centric conference, with names like Staley, Michael Jordan, Christian Laettner, Danny Ferry, Alana Beard, Len Bias, and Tim Duncan among the players honored.
Lacrosse, football, soccer, track & field, and baseball players have taken up the lion’s share of the remaining slots.
If you’re wondering who former Virginia swimmer Kate Douglass, who had a similar season in 2023, lost to, it was NC State runner Katelyn Tuohy. Tuohy won the ACC Cross Country Championships with a new course record of 19:08 for a 6K, and went on to win the NCAA Championship after overcoming an 11 second deficit to Florida’s Parker Valby at the national championship meet. Douglass did not finish in the top 3 in the voting last season.
Let’s hope the ESPYs give Gretchen a nomination for Best Female College Athlete since they’ve dropped the ball doing so the past couple years for Kate Douglass.
I honestly haven’t recovered from that 55.18 WR swim. WTH! And then her reaction. What an incredible moment.
Is there a valid argument for “NCAA athlete of the year?”
She was nominated, but ultimately Caitlin Clark won, which…I don’t think I can argue against.
Women’s sports are having a moment across the board, and we’re seeing Gretchen Walsh-level figures in almost every sport. Makes it really, really difficult to crack through in a multi-sport vote.
Parker Valby won the women’s 5000 at NCAAs by 18 seconds. Izzy Scane broke the NCAA lacrosse scoring record. Clark you know about. Oklahoma has a dynasty going in softball. The hysteria around gymnasts. I don’t think volleyball had any one player on the scale with the rest on this list…but Nebraska filled their football stadium. Women’s sports are blowing up EVERYWHERE, so there’s a ton of “never happened before” going around.
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If she did not win this award, that would have been absolute robbery.
I don’t think people understand. With a lot of sports in the NCAA there is a gap between being a collegiate sport and being a pro. With swimming, the NCAA is THE fastest league in the world.
They couldn’t have given it to a more deserving person.