During a historic four years as a swimmer for the Cavaliers, Class of 2025 alumna Gretchen Walsh etched her name into program history as a legend. Over the past three weeks, Walsh has received overwhelming national recognition for these athletic and academic achievements.
Walsh won the Collegiate Women Sports Award Program’s Honda Cup Award, the ACC’s Mary Garber Female Athlete of the Year Award and was nominated for ESPN’s Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards under the “Best College Athlete — Women’s Sports” category, becoming the second Cavalier ever to obtain an ESPY nomination.
The CWSA program, founded in 1976 and formerly known as the Broderick Awards, presents several awards, including The Honda Cup Award, an award that signifies the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year — the program’s “highest honor.”
This year, the event — presented by Honda — aired June 30 on CBS Sports Network from New York City. The Honda Cup Award recipient is determined annually by a tiered nomination system. This year’s three finalists for the Honda Cup Award included Walsh, junior pitcher NiJaree Canady of Texas Tech softball and senior guard Paige Bueckers, of Connecticut women’s basketball.
According to the CWSA website, awards such as the Honda Cup Award are not only determined based on athletic achievement, but factors such as leadership and community involvement as well. During her final year as an undergraduate, Walsh served as a team captain and graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the McIntire School of Commerce. At her final home meet, Walsh was spotted engaging with young fans for over an hour.
By becoming the second Virginia athlete in history and first Cavalier swimmer to join the list of 47 other Honda Cup Award recipients since 1977, Walsh, once again, made history. Upon acceptance of the Honda Cup Award, Walsh cited a relentless work ethic as a core element of her success.
“This sport, you know, it's all year round, and it feels like it never stops,” Walsh said. “But to have these moments of knowing that all the hard work and the never ending training is coming to fruition and it's worth it, it's really nice to have this recognition.”
Shortly after Walsh won the Honda Cup Award, she was presented with another prestigious accolade July 9, the ACC Mary Garber Female Athlete of the Year Award, which she also won last year. Since the Garber Award’s emergence in 1990, Walsh remains the only swimmer to ever receive this award, the seventh woman to win the award in back-to-back years and the third Cavalier woman to ever receive this award.
The award was created in 1990, in memory of Mary Garber, a sports journalist for the Winston-Salem Journal. Garber served as an early female leader in the field of sports journalism from 1940 to the late 1980s, breaking barriers for female athletic involvement and commentary. Currently, the ACC Female Athlete of the Year recipient is chosen by a panel of selected media experts in the field of sports journalism, with this year’s panel consisting of 55 voting members.
To add to her list of esteemed recognitions, Walsh was also honored as a nominee for ESPN’s annual awards program July 16, the Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards, under the “Best College Athlete — Women’s Sports” category. Though Walsh did not win the ESPY, her nomination remains both notable and historical.
With a host of awards and achievements from both in and out of the pool under her belt, Walsh plans to continue her journey as a professional swimmer by training at the Aquatic & Fitness Center. Next, she will compete in an array of events — beginning July 27 — at this year’s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.
Walsh shared her aspirations for this year’s World Championships during her interview after winning the Honda Cup. Though she has already shattered records, expectations and goals as a Cavalier swimmer, Walsh’s aspirations for this year’s World Championships suggest that she hopes to continue to display both grit and ambition in the professional arena.
“I'm looking forward to breaking more World Records, hopefully, and getting up on the podium at Worlds,” Walsh said. “I hope to make Team USA proud, this country proud and obviously my team back at U.Va. as well.”
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