Raya Mellott Swims 1:08 100 Breast, 2nd All-Time Fastest 13-14 Behind Amanda Beard

2022 Speedo Junior Championships

• August 1 to 5, 2022
• William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center, Irvine, California
• Long Course Meters (50m)
• Meet Central
• Event Page
• Psych Sheets
• Live Stream (USA Swimming)
• Live Results (OMEGA) (also can be found on MeetMobile)
• Day 1 Finals Live Recap

14-year-old Raya Mellott of Crow Canyon Sharks clocked a 1:08.77 100 meter breast to place 4th at the 2022 U.S. Junior Championships on Monday.

She is now the 2nd all-time fastest 13-14-year-old in the event, trailing only four-time Olympian and seven-time Olympic medalist Amanda Beard who swam a 1:08.09 at the 1996 Olympic Games to win silver. At the time, Beard was the second-youngest swimmer to ever win an Olympic medal. Mellott is now .68 away from Beard’s 3-14 national age group record.

Top 10 All-Time Fastest 13-14 Year-Olds in Girls’ 100 Meter Breast

1. Amanda Beard – 1:08.09 (1996)
2. Raya Mellott – 1:08.77 (2022)
3. Megan Jendrick (Quann) – 1:09.14
4. Grace Rainey – 1:09.42 (2019)
5. Emily Weiss – 1:09.45 (2015)
6. Annie Zhu – 1:09.65 (2009)
7. Alexis Wenger – 1:09.82 (2015)
8. Anita Richesson (Nall) – 1:09.83 (1990)
9. Allie Szekely – 1:09.87 (2012)
10. Alex Walsh – 1:09.98 (2016)

Mellott broke the 1:10.00 for the first time this morning by posting a best time of 1:09.32 during prelims which ranked her #3 on this list. In her jump from #3 to #2, she surpassed Megan Quann, a two-time Olympian and three-time Olympic medalist. Going into this meet, Mellott’s lifetime best time stood at 1:10.33 which she posted in early July. All in all, Mellott has dropped about 1.6 seconds in this event this month and about 2.5 seconds since April.

Mellott 100 Breast Progression 

• 1:08.77 (July 2022)
• 1:09.32 (July 2022)
• 1:10.33 (July 2022)
• 1:10.97 (April 2022)
• 1:11.27 (April 2022)
• 1:13.21 (July 2021)

In the girls’ 100 breast final at Juniors, Mellott split the race 32.32/36.45. She rivaled even the older swimmers with her back half speed. Event winner Lucy Thomas, 16 years old, came home in 36.08, only about one-third of a second faster than Mellott. Thomas touched the wall first with a best time of 1:07.63 to become the 3rd all-time fastest 15-16-year-old in the event.

She has one individual event left this weekend: the 200 breast where she is ranked 8th and her best time of 2:32.24 from this month already makes her the 25th all-time fastest swimmer in her age group.