Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh and Notre Dame’s Pat Kavanagh Named 2023-24 ACC Athletes of the Year

CHARLOTTE, NC (theACC.com) – Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh, named the 2024 CSCAA Women’s Swimmer of the Year, and Notre Dame’s Pat Kavanagh, winner of the 2024 Tewaaraton Award, have been selected by a select media panel (71 voters) as the ACC’s top female and male athletes for the 2023-24 academic year.

“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 year for the ACC and we continue to be incredibly proud of our student-athletes, coaches and programs.”


Walsh won the 35th Mary Garber Award as the ACC’s most outstanding female athlete, making her only the third Virginia student-athlete to receive the honor, following Dawn Staley (women’s basketball) in 1991 and 1992 and Morgan Brian (women’s soccer) in 2015.


The Nashville, Tennessee, native was named the 2024 Honda Award winner for swimming and diving and won seven NCAA titles to help the Cavaliers capture the program’s fourth consecutive NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championship title. At the NCAA Championships, she set American, U.S. Open and NCAA records in the 50 freestyle (20.37), 100 butterfly (47.42) and 100 freestyle (44.83) and helped lead the 400 medley relay team to an NCAA record time (3:21.01) at the NCAA Championships. She was also a member of the NCAA championship teams for both the 200 freestyle relay (1:24.05) and 400 freestyle relay (3:05.89) as well as the 200 medley relay (1:31.58).


Walsh was named Most Valuable Swimmer at the 2024 ACC Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships and set the meet, pool, ACC, American, NCAA and US Open records in the 50 freestyle (20.57), 100 freestyle (45.16) and 100 butterfly (48.25) at the ACC Championships. She was also part of the first-place 200-meter relay (1:23.63) that set pool, meet, ACC, US Open and NCAA records at the conference championships.


In addition to her athletic accomplishments, Walsh was also named the 2023-24 ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year for swimming and 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 butterfly, 50 freestyle, and 4×100 relay, and set the world record (55.18) in the semifinals of the 50 freestyle at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Walsh received 31 votes, leading the Garber Award voting, 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.

Kavanagh was presented with the 71st Anthony J. McKevlin Award as the conference’s top male athlete. He is the first Fighting Irish student-athlete to receive this honor.


The Rockville Centre, New York, native led the Fighting Irish to back-to-back national titles, the first two in program history, with a 15-5 win over Maryland in the 2024 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship game this past May.


Kavanagh was named the 2024 ACC Offensive Player of the Year and received All-American honors from USILA, Inside Lacrosse, and USA Lacrosse Magazine, and was selected to the 2024 NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team. The only player to rank in the top two in goals per game (2.5), assists per game (2.5) and points per game (5.0) in preseason ACC play, Kavanagh was a key factor in Notre Dame becoming the first team since the 2006 Virginia squad to go undefeated in ACC play, win the ACC Tournament, and win the NCAA championship in the same season.


The four-time All-ACC Team selection was selected sixth overall by Boston Cannon in the 2024 Premier Lacrosse League Draft and finished his career as the all-time leader in points and assists in Notre Dame history with 301 career points and 184 career assists. He was also the active leader in assists per game (2.97) during his collegiate career.

Kavanagh led the voting for the McKevlin Award with 27 votes, followed by Clemson’s Ousmane Syllia (men’s soccer) with 15 votes and NC State’s Payton Wilson (football) with nine votes.

The ACC Athlete of the Year Awards honor two distinguished journalists. McKevlin was a sports editor for the Raleigh (North Carolina) News and Observer, while Garber, of the Winston-Salem (North Carolina) Journal, was a pioneer as one of the nation’s first female sportswriters.