With one day left of the 2025 NCAA Division I Men’s Championships, Michigan is sitting in tenth place with 83 points, almost matching its point total of 87.5 from finishing 14th last season. With a successful Saturday session, the Wolverines could earn its first top-10 finish since 2018.
A big reason for Michigan’s success is junior Tyler Ray, who placed seventh in the 100-yard butterfly on Friday — tied with Gal Cohen Groumi’s 200 IM as best-ranking individual performance at the competition so far.
“Ever since last year’s finish, we had our eyes set on this year,” Ray said. “Last year we had some good swims, don’t get me wrong, but we all knew that we could be better.”
Ray just missed out on the 100 fly ‘A’ final last season, finishing ninth in prelims with a best time of 44.74 that was just 0.09 seconds away from the eighth-place time. However, it was only up from there. Nearly a year later at the 2025 Big Ten Championships, he reset his best to 44.28 to capture his first conference title. That improvement continued into NCAAs, where Ray clocked a 44.00 to qualify for the ‘A’ final. In finals, he put up a similar time of 44.01.
The ability of swimmers like Ray to improve from their seed is crucial for Michigan this year. In recent history, the Wolverines have struggled to do so, as since 2018, they have underperformed their projected scoring by an average by 40.17. Last season, head coach Matt Bowe‘s first year at the helm, Michigan actual score was only lower than its projected score by 15.5 points — the smallest negative predicted vs. actual differential for the team at an NCAAs meet between 2018 and 2024.
“That’s something that Coach Matt [Bowe] talked about since the beginning of the season. We’re looking to swim fast at Big Tens, but we build our program around swimming fast at NCAAs as well,” Ray said. “At the end of the day, NCAAs is what really matters…There was no other expectation than to go faster at NCAAs.”
“I was pretty surprised when I went [44] this morning. But you go 44 twice, all you want to do is go 43.9. So I guess that’s my next benchmark goal. But definitely happy to go 44 today and get some points on the board for the Block M.”
On Friday, Ray also raced on Michigan’s 400 medley relay with Jack Wilkening, Ozan Kalafat and Groumi. Ray split 43.99 on the fly leg, helping his team place eighth in a time of 3:01.19 and improve over a second from its seed. This performance builds upon his 18.34 50 free split on the 200 free relay, but it also served as redemption. The Wolverines had previously been disqualified in the 200 medley relay (which Ray was on) when they would have finished eighth, so a successful 400 medley relay gave them another shot at the podium.
Ray said that the earlier DQ didn’t linger on him or his teammates.
“We were pretty down after the 200 medley relay, but we didn’t let that affect us past that one night,” Ray said. “That we were able to let it go and have a bounce back like that means so much for the guys that are watching. Means so much for the guys that are swimming.”
Michigan has now improved upon its seed time in the 400 medley and 200 free relays (and would have in the 200 medley relay had it not been DQed), while matching it in the 800 free relay. These relays also brought out individual improvements in swimmers, as in the case of Wilkening. Wilkening was brought to NCAAs as a relay-only swimmer, but set a best time of 44.90 leading off the 400 medley relay which would have scored individually in the 100 back.
Ray has known Wilkening since high school, when they both trained at Club Wolverine. The two room together, and Wilkening’s success only further motivates Ray despite the two swimming different events. Motivation for Ray also comes in the form of a mix of working hard and enjoying himself. While he pushes himself by attending extra training in Ann Arbor over the summer with some of his teammates, he’s also formed important social bonds outside of a swimming context.
“We’re just a really loose group of guys that like to have a lot of fun. Sitting behind the ready room for [the 400 medley relay], I was laughing so hard with some of my teammates,” Ray said. “But while we’re having fun, we know there’s a lot of work we have to get done. It’s just finding that balance of pushing each other, working our hardest ever, while also making sure it’s fun.”
Ray’s experience at Michigan, as well as the overall program’s success, coinciding with Bowe’s coaching stint in Ann Arbor is no coincidence. Ray credits Bowe for establishing a positive culture on the team, and it’s starting to show more than ever at this year’s NCAAs.
“He cares so much about this team, cares so much about the people in the locker room,” Ray said. The guys are starting to really buy in here. And I think you see it — we’re starting to move up in place in the Big Ten and also nationally. He’s definitely got the program in the right direction.”
On Friday night Michigan junior Tyler Ray became just the eighth native of the state to reach an NCAA Men’s 100 Butterfly “A” final. Ray’s :44.00 preliminary swim is the fastest-ever by a Michigander and shattered his own school record in the process.
Tyler is the first native to reach the “A” Final since Georgia’s Camden Murphy in ‘21 and the fourth Michigan native to achieve the feat for the Wolverines (the first to do so since Jackson’s Leland Bisbee reached the ‘69 Final).
Meanwhile, Jack Wilkening became the first Michigan native ever under :45 in the 100 Backstroke. He had previously become the first Michigander under :46 at the ‘23 UGA Fall Invite.
Wilkening becomes the first backstroker from… Read more »
It will be interesting to see if loading up in the 200 Fly works out for them.