Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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44 AUGUST 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED under head coach Brian Kelly. Swarbrick hired Kelly — the win- ningest football coach in Fighting Irish history — in 2009. During his time at Notre Dame, Swarbrick always protected indepen- dence for his football program and he became an influential member of the College Football Playoff Management Committee. In that capacity, Swarbrick played a key role in developing the upcoming College Football Playoff expansion from four to 12 teams, and securing Notre Dame's place in it. THE X FACTOR In a development nobody could've have seen coming, Irish senior safety Xavier Watts won the 2023 Bronko Na- gurski Award, an honor given annually to the nation's best defensive player. A co nve r te d w i d e re ce ive r wh o worked with the Notre Dame offense as recently as fall camp of 2022, Watts led the nation last season with 7 inter- ceptions, and added 52 tackles and 4 passes broken up during his breakout campaign. With 2 interceptions in each game against USC Oct. 14 and Pitt Oct. 28, Watts became the first Irish player with two picks in back-to-back games since 1996. The Omaha, Neb., native also forced a fumble and recovered another one which he returned for a touchdown in a 48-20 blowout win over USC. REPEAT PERFORMANCE After leading Notre Dame to count- less close calls but no national cham- pionships during his first 34 seasons as the Irish men's lacrosse head coach, Kevin Corrigan claimed his second straight national title with a dominat- ing postseason performance and a 15-5 win over Maryland in the championship game May 27. The victory over the Terrapins capped a four-game NCAA Tournament run in which Notre Dame outscored its op- ponents 58-31, and left no doubt that it was the best team in college lacrosse. The Irish finished the season 16-1 with their only loss coming in an 11-10 overtime defeat to Georgetown Feb. 25. The Irish finished the season with 14 consecutive wins that brought an ACC regular-season title, an ACC Tourna- ment title, and the second national championship in program history. BEST OF THE BEST Speaking of Notre Dame lacrosse, in a perfect ending to a magical career, grad- uate student Pat Kavanagh did some- thing no other Irish player had ever done before when he claimed the 2024 Notre Dame's Top Female Athletes Of 2023-24 1. Olivia Markezich (cross country/track) — The Irish graduate student distance star capped her terrific Notre Dame career with a second-place finish in the 3,000-me- ter steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in a program-record time of 9:17.36. The Woodinville, Wash., native was also the runner-up in the 3,000 meters at the NCAA Indoor Championships, and she won ACC titles this season in the 5,000-meter outdoor race (15:23.14) and the 3,000-meter indoor race (8:52.03) at the conference championships. 2. Eva Gaetino (soccer) — The star senior defender collected multiple honors follow- ing her senior season, including ACC Defender of the Year for the second straight year, and first-team All-America honors from both the United Soccer Coaches and College Soccer News. Gaetino was also a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist as the nation's top player. The Dexter, Mich., native started in 75 of 76 games during her Notre Dame career and recently signed a contract to play professionally with the elite Paris Saint-Germain soccer club in Paris, France. 3. Jackie Wolak (lacrosse) — The graduate student attacker left Notre Dame as the program's all-time points leader after tallying a team-best 110 points this season on 58 goals and 52 assists. It was the second-best mark in the nation in 2024 and third-best single-season mark in Irish program history. The Ridgewood, N.J., native also won the ACC Attacker of the Year award and became a Tewaaraton finalist, an honor given to the best player in the country. 4. Julia Andreach (tennis) — The senior from Rochester, N.Y., earned All-ACC honors and a trip to the NCAA Individual Championship Tournament after her standout season. Andreach finished the 2024 spring season with a 20-3 record that included 10 wins over ranked opponents and a 12-1 record in ACC play. Her 27-5 combined record for the fall and summer seasons is the 12th-best winning-percentage (.844) in program history and the best mark for an Irish player in 14 years. 5. Maddy Westbeld (basketball) — With 14.4 points a game and a career-best 8.7 rebounds per outing this season, the versatile senior forward from Kettering, Ohio, enjoyed the best campaign of her career. She also added 39 blocks and tallied 12 double-doubles this season to earn second-team All-ACC honors for the second year in the row. Westbeld was surprisingly productive away from Purcell Pavilion where she averaged 15.3 points and 7.5 rebounds, while shooting 47.3 percent away from home. — Todd D. Burlage Track standout Olivia Markezich finished her career with a national runner-up showing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the NCAA Outdoor Championships. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS