Gretchen Walsh, Lucas Henveaux Named ACC Swimmers of the Year

Courtesy: The ACC

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – California’s Lucas Henveaux and Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh were named the 2025 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s and Women’s Swimmers of the Year, while Stanford’s Jack Ryan and Miami’s Chiara Pellacani were voted the ACC Men’s and Women’s Divers of the Year to highlight the ACC’s yearly award winners for the 2024-25 swimming & diving season.

The 2025 ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving yearly awards were determined by a vote of the league’s head coaches.

NC State’s Leah Shackley was selected as the ACC Women’s Freshman of the Year, while Yamato Okadome of California was named the ACC Men’s Freshman of the Year.

Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo was voted ACC Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year for the sixth consecutive season, while California head coach Dave Durden was selected as the ACC Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year.

Miami’s Dario di Fazio was named the ACC Women’s Diving Coach of the Year, while Stanford’s Patrick Jeffrey was selected ACC Men’s Diving Coach of the Year.

Walsh closed out her Cavalier career as a 25-time NCAA Champion, 23-time ACC Champion, 28-time All-ACC selection and 27-time All-American. At the 2025 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships, Walsh earned three individual conference titles (50 free, 100 free and 100 back) and helped lead Virginia to four relay titles (200 free, 400 free, 800 free and 400 medley) to claim the ACC Women’s Swimming Most Valuable Swimmer Award. At the 2025 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships, Walsh claimed gold in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, 200 free relay, 400 free relay, 400 medley relay and 200 medley relay to lead Virginia to its fifth straight national title. Walsh was named the 2025 College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of American (CSCAA) Women’s Swimmer of the Year for the second consecutive season and a finalist for the Class of 2025 Honda Sport Award for Swimming & Diving.

In Cal’s first year as a member of the conference, Henveaux helped lead the Golden Bears to their first-ever ACC Men’s Swimming & Diving Championship title and their consecutive runner-up finish at the 2025 NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships. At the 2025 ACC Championship, Henveaux helped set a meet record in the 800 free relay with a time of 6:06.66 before setting a school and ACC record with his winning time of 4:08.83 in the 500 free. He earned All-ACC honors in the 500 free, 800 free and 1650 free. At the 2025 NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships, Henveaux was a part of the 800 free relay team that set a program, meet, NCAA and U.S. Open record with a time of 5:59.75. He also finished third in the 500 free with a program record time of 4:06.74, third in the 400 IM with a time of 3:36.22 and third in the 1650 freestyle, topping his own program record with a time of 14:27.62.

Pellacani was named the ACC Women’s Diver of the Year just two weeks after being named the 2025 CSCAA Women’s Diver of the Year. Miami’s Pellacani earned the first CSCAA Diver of the Year honor of her career after winning the national title in the 1-meter dive and finishing as the runner-up in the 3-meter dive at the 2025 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. Pellacani became the 17th diver in Miami history to capture a national championship. At the 2025 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships, she finished first in the 3-meter dive with her score of 403.15. Pellacani was also named a finalist for the Class of 2025 Honda Sport Award for Swimming & Diving.

Ryan became the first Stanford Cardinal to win an ACC Championship title after finishing first in the 1-meter dive with a score of 411.95 at the 2025 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships. In his senior season, Ryan earned CSCAA First-Team All-American honors in both the 1-meter and 3-meter. At the 2025 NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships, he closed out the year with two podium finishes as the runner-up in the 1-meter and third in the 3-meter. In both events, Ryan was the top finisher from the conference.

Shackley was named the ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving Freshman of the Year after a recording-breaking season for the Wolfpack. Shackley recorded four podium finishes at the 2025 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships, finishing second in the 200 back and third in the 100 back, 400 free and 400 medley relay. At the 2025 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships, she earned four podium finishes in the 100 back, 200 back, 200 medley relay and 200 free relay. Shackley finished out her freshman campaign with two program records (50 fly, 100 fly) and six CSCAA All-American honors.

In the first season of his collegiate career, Okadome recorded 14 individual top-three finishes and nine relay top-three finishes for the Golden Bears. In addition to his 23 overall titles this season, Okadome set the second-fastest time in program history in the 100 breast with a time of 50.62 while setting the fifth-fastest time in the 200 breast with a time of 1:50.19. He was named to the All-ACC team in the 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 medley relay after a first-place finish in the 200 medley relay, a second-place finish in the 200 breast and a third-place finish in the 100 breast. At the 2025 NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships, Okadome helped set a program record in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:20.76 to finish third.

DeSorbo – the CSCAA Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year for the fourth straight year – led Virginia to its fifth consecutive NCAA National Championship and sixth overall. The Cavaliers are just one of three programs to win five swimming & diving titles in a row and the first since 1996, joining Stanford (1992-1996) and Texas (1984-1988). At the 2025 NCAA Championships, Virginia won 10 events, including six individual titles and four relay championships. A total of five Cavaliers brought home gold medals, led by Gretchen Walsh’s seven first-place finishes.

Durden was named the ACC Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year after leading California to a conference championship in its first season as a member of the league. The Golden Bears claimed the 2025 ACC Championship title after earning gold in six events. Just a month later, they celebrated a runner-up finish at the 2025 NCAA Men’s Swimming & Diving Championships, marking the 15th consecutive year of finishing in the top two overall. Under Durden, California has six NCAA team championship titles (2011, 2012, 2014, 2019, 2022, 2023) and nine NCAA runner-up finishes (2010, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2024, 2025). The honor marks Durden’s 13th conference Coach of the Year honor in his collegiate coaching career.

In just his first season as the head diving coach for the Miami Hurricanes, di Fazio was named the ACC Women’s Diving Coach of the Year. Prior to the 2024-25 season, di Fazio was the Hurricanes’ assistant diving coach, leading 11 divers to 15 national titles. This season, di Fazio coached another one as ACC Women’s Diver of the Year, Chiara Pellacani, claimed gold in the 1-meter dive at the 2025 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. Di Fazio coached both Pellacani (1-meter dive, 3-meter dive) and Mia Vallée (1-meter dive, 3-meter dive) to two CSCAA First-Team All-American honors each.

In his 11th season at the helm of the Stanford men’s and women’s diving program, Jeffrey was named the 2025 ACC Men’s Diving Coach of the Year. Jeffrey coached two Cardinal divers to conference championship titles in ACC Men’s Diver of the Year, Jack Ryan (1-meter dive), and Anna Lemkin (platform dive) at the 2025 ACC Swimming & Diving Championships. He is now a five-time conference coach of the year, marking his fourth time being named the conference men’s diving coach of the year (2015, 2019, 2024, 2025). This season, Jeffrey led two men’s divers in Misha Andriyuk (platform diving) and Ryan (1-meter dive, 3-meter dive) to CSCAA First-Team All-American honors.

2024-25 ACC Swimming & Diving Annual Awards
Women’s Swimmer of the Year: Gretchen Walsh, UVA
Men’s Swimmer of the Year: Lucas Henveaux, California
Women’s Diver of the Year: Chiara Pellacani, Miami
Men’s Diver of the Year: Jack Ryan, Stanford
Women’s Freshman of the Year: Leah Shackley, NC State
Men’s Freshman of the Year: Yamato Okadome, Cal
Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year: Todd DeSorbo, UVA
Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year: Dave Durden, California
Women’s Diving Coach of the Year: Dario di Fazio, Miami
Men’s Diving Coach of the Year: Patrick Jeffrey, Stanford