Rising senior Gretchen Walsh was officially honored Wednesday as the recipient of the Mary Garber Award, given annually to the best female student-athlete in the ACC. The younger Walsh sister dominated her competition with ease in 2024 and now receives another honor before joining two other current Cavaliers — and Virginia swimming and diving coach Todd DeSorbo — competing for the United States at the Paris Olympics.
She was previously named the ACC Swimmer of the Year and claimed seven national titles — three of which were individual victories — at the NCAA Championships that were capped off by the Cavaliers winning their fourth straight team championship. Virginia is only the third school in NCAA history to earn a four-peat in women’s swimming and diving.
Walsh’s trophy case is constantly in dire need of extra shelves, as she was previously honored as the 2024 Collegiate Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America Swimmer of the Year following her dominant performance at the NCAA Championships. Additionally, she has 21 All-ACC honors and 16 ACC titles to her name and also received 2024 First Team Academic All-American honors.
Most recently, Walsh set the 100-meter butterfly world record at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, with a scorching 55.18-second time. She will also be competing in the 50-meter freestyle and the butterfly leg of the 4x100-meter relay — as Walsh finished in the top three of each event at the trials.
Walsh received 18 more votes for the Mary Garber Award than the second place contender, graduate student center Elizabeth Kitley of Virginia Tech women’s basketball. Walsh is the first Cavalier to win the award since women’s soccer star Morgan Brian was honored in 2015.
Alongside her older sister — fellow Olympian Alex Walsh — Gretchen Walsh is one of the most decorated athletes in Virginia history. The Walsh sisters will continue to take the swimming world by storm and will also help lead the Cavaliers back to championship contention again, as Alex Walsh recently announced that she will return for the 2025 season as a graduate student.
As for international competition, Gretchen Walsh is no stranger to the spotlight. She collected three medals for the U.S. squad at the 2023 World Championships, and she will very likely bring home a handful of Olympic medals for DeSorbo and company from Paris. For now, Gretchen Walsh can take pride in receiving the Mary Garber Award as she, her sister and other fellow Cavaliers look forward to a strong showing at the 2024 Olympics.
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