Cavaliers Win Five Golden Goggles Awards from USA Swimming

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Members of the Virginia swimming program won five honors at USA Swimming’s Golden Goggles Awards on Saturday (Nov. 23) at a ceremony held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind.

Senior Gretchen Walsh won two awards – the Breakout Award and the Relay Performance of the Year with the gold-medal and world record 4×100 Medley relay squad. Two more Cavaliers, Kate Douglass and Emma Weber, were acknowledged as prelim swimmers for that relay.

Cavalier alumna Paige Madden earned the Perseverance Award. Incoming freshman Katie Grimes was awarded the Fran Crippen Open Water Swimmer of the Year, an honor named after the Cavalier swimmer.

Virginia head coach Todd DeSorbo, the US Olympic women’s team head coach, was named the Coach of the Year.

The Golden Goggle Awards, presented by the USA Swimming Foundation, is an awards ceremony that recognizes and honors the accomplishments of swimmers who have represented the United States over the last year. The awards were established in 2004. There are eight main categories: Breakout Performer of the Year, Coach of the Year, Perseverance Award, Relay Performance of the Year, Male Race of the Year, Female Race of the Year, Male Athlete of the Year, and Female Athlete of the Year. A selection panel and fan votes determine the winners of each award.

Kate Douglass is the only other Cavalier to have ever won a Golden Goggles award, being named the co-Female Athlete of the Year in 2023.