Mikayla Tan, 13, Posts 7th-Best 13-14 200 Breaststroke in History

2023 Joyce Lanphere Invitation

• November 4-5, 2023*
• Rinconada Park Pool, Palo Alto, California
• Short Course Yards (SCY)
• Results on MeetMobile: “2023 Joyce Lanphere Invitational”

Two of the highlights of the meet came on the girl’s side of the fifteen and over age group, with 13-year-old Mikayla Tan of Dart Swimming and 16-year-old Raya Mellot of Crow Canyon Country Club both putting up multiple impressive performances.

For Tan, the biggest swim of the day came in the 200 breast, where she hit a new lifetime best of 2:11.87 on her way to a second place finish in the event. That performance knocked nearly two full seconds off of her lifetime best entering the meet. That time also moves her into the top 10 of the 13-14 age group all-time, ranking her 7th in the events history – in spite of being in the younger half of the age group. Tan also added lifetime bests in the 100 free (52.61) and 200 IM (2:01.36).

While Tan finished 2nd in the 200 breast, it was Mellott who finished with the fastest time of the meet as part of her sweep of the breaststroke events. In the 200, Mellott claimed the top spot in 2:09.77 while she took the win in the 100 breast with a time of 1:00.15.

While Mellott was off of her lifetime bests in both events, she currently stands as the fastest 100 breaststroker in the class of 2025. The eighth ranked recruit in the class of 2025, Mellott is committed to Virginia for next fall.

On the boy’s side of the meet, DART Swimming’s Aidan Collins went a perfect five for five on best times, winning multiple events in the process. The fourteen year old broke 50.0 in the 100 fly for the first time, touching at 49.77 to win the event in finals. He also claimed the top spot in the 100 breast, winning that event in 58.32.

Entering the meet, Collins had never even been below 51.0 in the 100 fly, with his lifetime best standing at 51.41 from last March. During prelims, he shaved over a second off of that time to touch in 50.57. His 49.77 from finals now makes him the forty-seventh fastest all-time in the 13-14 age group.

Other Notable Performers

• Sisters Savannah and Sage Searle of Crow Canyon were dominant in the ten and under age group, finishing in the top two spots of five different events. Savannah came out on top with four event titles while Sage picked up one in the 100 fly (1:06.94).
•  Sixteen year old Emiliano Zamudio of DART notched a new lifetime best of 1:48.78 in the 100 back on his way to winning the event over Cal Poly commit Sam Seybold.
• Swimming unattached, twelve year old Ryan Mak finished the meet a perfect six for six in his age group, posting new best times in the 200 free (2:01.53), 100 back (59.93), 200 fly (2:14.37), and 200 IM (2:14.65).