Tyler Ray had a huge finish to his collegiate career.
The University of Michigan senior swept both Big Ten titles in the butterfly events and was named 2026 Big Ten Swimmer of the Meet.
He went on to finish third at the NCAA Championships in the 200 fly (1:38.47).
But Ray wasn’t done.
As he continued to improve, he wanted to continue training. But having never lived outside of Michigan before, he wanted a new outlook from a new place.
Ray decided to join Bob Bowman‘s post-grad training group at Texas. He will head to Austin after three weeks training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado.
“I am heading to the Olympic training center for three weeks then traveling down to Austin to join the Texas training group,” Tyler Ray told Swimming World. “Texas was an opportunity that kind of arose suddenly. I was considering staying at Michigan and have had a really great experience here. I swam really well and had great teammates, but it was something I wanted to do because I have lived in Michigan my whole life. I wanted to try out things in a new city with a new team as a professional. Texas seems like it will be a good fit. It is a training group that is one of the fastest in the world. Hopefully that will push me to where my goals are.
“I am going to try to make a big jump there.”
Part of the reason for continuing his career after graduating from Michigan is unfinished business.
The past two summers, Ray has dealt with severe injuries.
“I haven’t had a great opportunity to show my potential long-course. I had two injuries the past two summers, a shoulder injury then a torn abdominal wall last year and had to get surgery on it,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything but walk for eight weeks.”
Ray recovered to have a stellar senior season at Michigan – and the best experience of his career.
“I had so much fun at every single NCAAs and Big Tens, but this past one, I had the most fun I have ever had at a swim meet with my teammates,” Tyler Ray said. “We were all swimming fast, which helps, but we were just being ourselves and it was awesome.”
