Tyler Ray of Pinckney was content to end one career and begin another.
If he didn’t swim competitively again, Ray would have left the University of Michigan as one of its most decorated swimmers and, more importantly, with a degree that will set him up for the next 40 years of his life.
He will graduate from Michigan’s business school on May 2 and was already laying the groundwork for his career away from swimming by interviewing for positions in marketing and sales consulting.
But then he got an offer he simply couldn’t refuse.
Ray accepted an offer to swim for an elite professional training program at the University of Texas run by Bob Bowman, who rose to fame as coach of 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps.
“There’s superstars from top to bottom in that group,” Ray said. “There are U.S. and international Olympians and Olympic medalists in that group. I was looking for a big step out of my comfort zone. I really loved my time at Michigan. I have great training partners here and great coaches.”
Ray’s immediate goal is to lower his times in long-course swimming after setting Big Ten records in four individual events and two relays last winter. Olympic swimming takes place in pools 50 meters in length, while college swimming pools are 25 yards.
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Of course, there’s the big goal of making the U.S. Olympic team for the 2028 games in Los Angeles, even if he doesn’t verbalize it.
“It’s definitely on my radar,” Ray said. “I’m not really big on throwing my goals out there. I’m trying to take it one season at a time right now. Anything could happen. You could go down in two months and get injured. I’m trying to take it one step at a time, see where it goes. In this group, I’m going to be shooting for the stars. I’m hoping if I get my foot in, I’ll get to really cool places.”
One of the cool places Ray is definitely capable of going is the U.S. Olympic Trials. He competed at the 2024 Trials, which took place in an electric atmosphere inside the Indianapolis Colts’ stadium.
He missed two weeks of training because of a dislocated shoulder going into the meet, placing 40th out of 54 swimmers in the 200-meter butterfly in 2 minutes, 0.27 seconds.
Getting back to the Trials has been front of mind since he walked out of Lucas Oil Stadium two years ago.
“It was the coolest meet I’ve ever gone to in my life by far and one of the coolest sporting events I’ve ever gone to,” Ray said. “The event USA Swimming was able to put on was really impressive. I remember walking out thinking, ‘I don’t know if I’m going to be swimming in four years, but this is definitely an experience I would love to have again.’ It was good enough to where I would think about training two years post-grad to be able to go to a meet like that again. That little flame was in me.”
Ray will be training 20 to 30 hours a week in an attempt to return to the Trials and perhaps get further during the next Olympic cycle.
“It’s a huge commitment,” he said. “That’s why I was hesitant to pull the trigger on that up until now. I’m still planning on figuring something out to work part-time somewhere, not only because I want to make a little bit of money to support myself but to push forward for my own experience and career.
“Swimming’s really going to be my full-time job. In a group like this, it can’t not be your full-time job to be successful, but one thing for me is always being balanced in everything, not putting all of my energy into one facet of my life. That’s how you’re able to dodge burnout.”
Ray will be starting over again, just like he did as a freshman at Michigan in 2022. He was a three-time state champion at Pinckney, but the Wolverines’ roster is loaded with swimmers who were state champs.
“It gave me butterflies in my stomach,” he said. “I was really nervous about it. Michigan is such a historic program. I knew coming in I was going to be at the bottom. It was something I had to get over and push myself to do. I went in hoping my senior year I could be scoring in an ‘A’ final at our conference meet and if things went great I’d be qualifying for NCAA’s.
“I knew there was a chance I didn’t even make it through my four years. That’s not uncommon for people at this level. If you don’t love this, it’s really tough to do. I took a jump out of my comfort zone and prove myself wrong, because I had my own doubts.”
At Michigan, Ray was a five-time Big Ten champion and an eight-time All-American. He took third in the 200 butterfly, fourth in the 400 medley relay, fifth in the 100 butterfly and 400 freestyle relay, and seventh in the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle at the NCAA championships in March.
“I grew so much, not even just swimming,” Ray said. “Coming in, I was good regionally, but wasn’t in the scheme nationally. I wasn’t a super high-ranked recruit.
“I’ve grown so much as a person. I know my confidence has definitely grown. I have the same kind of character, but in terms of getting so much experience and maturity I feel very evolved.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Pinckney’s Tyler Ray continuing swim career with Michael Phelps’ coach
Reporting by Bill Khan, Livingston Daily / Livingston Daily
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
