Less than one month after Oklahoma and Texas announced their intentions to join the Southeastern Conference, three of the biggest conferences in college athletics pushed back with an announcement of their own.

An action-packed spring season capped off a hectic year for UW Athletics, where 17 teams navigated sport seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are The Daily sports staff’s picks for best athletes, performances, and moments from the past year. 

Following the NCAA Division I Board of Directors' guidance approval to allow student-athletes to compensate on their name, image, and likeness (NIL), the UW Athletic Department unveiled plans to support its student-athletes in business endeavors.

Seven months after Ralph Rasso was promoted to interim head coach in the wake of former head coach Elise Ray-Statz’s resignation, the Washington athletic department announced Monday that Jen Llewellyn has been hired to lead the gymnastics program.

Although the whole team was unable to qualify, some members of the Washington gymnastics team took to the NCAA Regionals meet Friday night in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Following a disappointing beam rotation at the Pac-12 Championships that left the Washington gymnastics team with a sour taste in its mouth, some athletes did enough individually in the meet to qualify for NCAA Regionals.

Ten days after its best performance of the season, the Washington gymnastics team wasn’t able to sustain the same level of success in West Valley City, Utah, scoring just 194.400 points in the Pac-12 Championships.

With new faces all around, from head coach Ralph Rosso to a half-dozen freshmen, the Washington gymnastics team entered the 2021 season knowing a rebuild was on the horizon.