Elise Ray Officially Named Washington Head Coach

Elise Ray, 2000 Olympic Bronze Medalist,  US National Champion, NCAA champion, has been named the head coach at the University of Washington's gymnastics program, following the retirement of longtime head coach, Joanne Bowers.

Bowers, announced her retirement last Wednesday after ten years at the helm of the Huskies' gymnastics team. She expressed her reason for retiring was to be closer to her husband, John, an assistant football coach at James Madison University in Harrisburg, Virginia. In her ten years at Washington, Bowers lead the Huskies to a regional berth all ten years of her tenure and sent individuals to NCAA Championships seven times (2007-13, 2016).

Ray, who competed under Bowers at the University of Michigan in her NCAA days, has been at Washington for the past five years, as an assistant coach, and most recently, she was promoted to Associate Head Coach in the 2015-16 season.

Congratulations to Elise on her promotion and best of luck to her in the next phase of her career! We (the gymternet at large) are so excited to see the Huskies flourish and continue to grow under Elise's leadership.

For more information, visit: http://www.gohuskies.com/fls/30200/ray/release.html