NCAA All-Americans Tyler Ray, Jack Wilkening, and Jack Aikins will all be making the move to Texas to train under Bob Bowman in Austin. All three just wrapped up there NCAA careers. Ray and Wilkening spent their collegiate careers at Michigan while Aikins spent his career at Virginia.
Aikins is currently a member of the 2025-2026 US National Team in the 200 backstroke. Aikins represented the US at the 2025 World Championships last summer, swimming in prelims of the 100 and 200 backstrokes. He earned his spot on the Worlds team after winning the 200 back in a lifetime best 1:54.25 at 2025 US Nationals. He also was 2nd in the 100 back in a 53.19.
Aikins will be joining the training group at altitude camp on May 18th, right after his graduation from Virginia.
He told SwimSwam, “I have nothing but love and respect for UVA and the people there. However, I’ve been training there since 2021, and believe a change in training stimulus and a new environment will be really beneficial as I move forward into my professional career. It’ll be exciting to be part of a big professional group that’s collectively focused on ambitious goals in the post-NCAA world of swimming. I’ll have a pretty insane group of training partners as well. No better way to challenge myself and grow.”
Ray will make the move to Texas despite a huge senior season with the Michigan Wolverines. Ray was 3rd in the 200 fly and 5th in the 100 fly at the 2026 NCAA Championships. Ray did not swim at all last summer, so his last long course meet is back from July 2024.
“There’s superstars from top to bottom in that group,” Ray said to the Livingston Daily. “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.”
Fellow Michigan teammate Jack Wilkening is also making the move to Austin. Wilkening swam a lifetime best 43.98 100 back while leading off Michigan’s 400 medley relay at 2026 NCAAs.
Wilkening did compete during long course season last summer and was 6th in both the 50 back (24.88) and 100 back (53.87) at 2025 US Summer Nationals. He was in the same finals heats as Aikins.
“Super excited for the opportunity in Texas, and grateful for everyone in Ann Arbor who has helped me become the swimmer and person I am today,” Wilkening told SwimSwam. “I would especially like to thank Matt and Gunnar for their investment into growing the UM program and thankful they support my decision. Grateful for the opportunity to train with and learn from Coach Bowman and some of the best backstrokers in American and the world!”
Wilkening and Aikins will join a backstroke group that includes names such as 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist in the 200 back Hubert Kos as well as Will Modglin who was 3rd in the 50 back and 5th in the 100 back at 2025 US Summer Nationals. Ray joins the butterfly group that includes 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist in the 200 fly Leon Marchand, 2025 Worlds finalist in the 200 fly Carson Foster, as well as Mitchell Schott who was an ‘A’ finalist at 2026 NCAAs in the 200 fly and is arriving after graduating from Princeton.
Finally a UVA to Texas guy after so many Texas to UVA people
Aikens aint making it more than a season there
Jack Wilkening and Jack Aikins have underwaters as good as an average age grouper. Get Diehl and Armstrong down there, and have them all train in a 100 m long pool. Unstoppable!
I had a thought. . about what it costs to train with elite coaches. .like in $$$$. It’s not the 80s anymore so what DOES it cost to train monthly, enter in meets, travel/lodging costs as a non pro and as a pro athlete/swimmer? back in the day, the club coaches were the sh!t and the college/university coaches were the lucky SOBs that got these top swimmers. .it has obviously flipped over the years (follow the money & prestige). But there should be recognition for these coaches that trained/groomed these age groupers up before the hand-off to their collegiate &/or professional career
Mel, what do we have to do to get an updated one of these?
https://swimswam.com/the-new-texas-pro-swim-team-gmm-presented-by-swimoutlet-com/
If you glaze the horns for the next 30 days straight, you’ll get an updated one. Jk, love your UT passion.
Believe me, I can do that ;D
Honestly for all of these guys, it’s mixing up the training environment they’ve been in for a long time. Aikens has been with UVA since 2021 but don’t forget that Ray and Wilkening have been with Michigan even longer because both of them swam for Club Wolverine. According to SwimCloud, Ray joined Club Wolverine in 2016 and Wilkening joined all the way back in 2013. Gotta try some new food after all this time in Ann Arbor
Good point. Some people like staying with the comforts of home, others like to get out in the world and move.
Plus, as I understand, the food in Ann Arbor is trash 😉
That reminds me that with Lukas transfer that’s 3 out of 4 legs of UMs medley relay going to Texas!
Antoine Sauvé will run Michigan just like he ran Québec
??? What is he doing…… Good luck getting overtrained. I’ll be rooting for David King to take him out in 2 years.
yeah bro the multiple 2:00+s that he put up in the 200 back in FTL really shows good things about his UVA training
Why giving the troll attention?
Relay names guy has been quite for a bit, but UVA Fan has become more and more vocal. Has anyone seen them in the same room at the same time?
Are his success under UVA training not on the coaches though? I mean, it’s gotta go both ways
Do swimmers have to pay out of pocket to join these pro groups or does USA swimming provide coaching $$$
It varies by group. Some don’t pay at all, some pay a percentage of earnings, some pay a flat rate. USA Swimming doesn’t pay the coaches directly.
It would be very interesting to know more about this.
It definitely would be. But in swimming, everything is a secret.
From what I heard there’s a monthly fee plus 10% of your earnings yearly that go to Bob. Bob knows how to work his magic in the pool and legally
What $$$? Swim meet purse $ is embarrassing compared to other sports.
Swim meet purse money is embarrassing compared to some sports, but wildly generous compared to others.
Somewhere in Russia, regball players are dreaming of purses as big as swimming.
(No but seriously I had to really dig deep to find prize pools lower than swimming. Y’all would be shocked at how much prize money disc golfers make).