Courtesy: Richmond Athletics
Richmond, Va. – University of Richmond swimming and diving head coach Matt Barany announced the hiring of Freya Rayner to be the new assistant swim coach. Rayner enters her career with the Spiders after spending a year at Dartmouth as an assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s programs.
“We’re excited to welcome Freya to Richmond. Our women will benefit from her experiences as an athlete and a coach. I think she’s going to enjoy being part of our nerdy, motivated, fun-loving program. I am most impressed with her vision of marketing our program to the brightest students and the fastest swimmers. I look forward to having her energy and expertise for the up-coming season. We’ve been waiting for this hire!”, said head coach Matt Barany.
Prior to her one-year tenure at Dartmouth, Rayner spent the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons at Akron as an assistant coach and graduate assistant for the women’s swimming and diving program, where she helped lead the Zips to back-to-back MAC titles. Akron athletes collected a long list of accolades during Rayner’s two years on the staff, including two All-America honors, eight program records, three conference records, 12 individual conference champions and 10 conference relay champions. The Zips earned the MAC Swimmer of the Year twice, along with consecutive MAC Coach of the Year honors for head coach Brian Peresie, during Rayner’s time at her alma mater.
A 2021 graduate of Ohio State, Rayner was a nine-time CSCAA All-American, including four All-America honors in the 200 free relay, during her decorated four years as a student-athlete. She played a large part in the Buckeyes’ back-to-back Big Ten titles during her final two years and was a five-time conference relay champion.
Rayner comes from Sunderland, United Kingdom as she claimed a bachelor’s degree in world literatures from Ohio State in 2021 before receiving her master’s in coaching and administration from Akron in 2023.
A great pick up Richmond! Freya’s two years at Akron were the best years I had. She is the empath, knowledgeable and caring coach all swimmers need! Excited to see her do great things and leave her mark with the Spiders!