Former top 20 ranked recruit coming out of high school Raya Mellott has announced she will join UNC for the upcoming 2026-2027 season. Mellott spent her freshman season at Virginia.
Mellott committed to Virginia in the fall of her junior year, back when she was the #8 ranked recruit. She was the fastest 100 breaststroker in the class at the time. She was then ranked the #13 after her junior season and #17 after her senior season.
The California native saw her season bests come at midseason this past year, when Virginia participated in the CSCAA Dual Meet Challenge. Mellott swam to a 1:01.43 in the dual meet against Arizona State and a 2:11.56 200 breast in the Tennessee Invite.
Mellott’s Best SCY Times Are:
| High School | At Virginia | |
| 100 breast | 59.53 (December 2023) | 1:01.43 |
| 200 breast | 2:09.53 (May 2023) | 2:11.56 |
The UNC women finished 7th out of 15 teams at the 2026 ACC Championships. The Virginia women captured the ACC title but Mellott was not a member of the conference roster.
Based on her lifetime bests, Mellott would have made the ACC ‘B’ final of the 100 and 200 breaststrokes while her season bests from her freshman year at Virginia would have made the ‘C’ final. Samantha Armand led the team in the 100 breast this season with a 59.19 as well as the 200 breast with a 2:09.88. Armand is entering her senior year this fall so the two will overlap for one season.
It took a 59.53 100 breast and a 2:08.77 200 breast to make the 2026 NCAA Championships, so Mellott’s best time in the 100 breast is right on what it took to make the meet. UNC was 24th at 2026 NCAAs with 33 points.
Honestly, think kids gotta be a little more strategic with where they commit. a breaststroker with 2 events who hasn’t swam a PB in her primary events in well over a year by the time she graduates probably doesn’t have much leverage in being kept on the roster of the 6-time defending champions with the limits and all that.
Look at Texas’ breaststrokers and UVA’s breaststrokers.
The top swimmers are picking their team early in their junior year of high school. Guarantee that the #8 swimmer in the class did not believe she was done improving.
Perhaps coaches need to recruit the right number of swimmers for a team and not bring 9 or 10 freshmen in when they know they won’t have room. Changing schools is never in any swimmer’s plan. A team designed to boot swimmers needs to be reconsidered.
Sunshine and rainbows, yes
It’s really hard to predict. Look at Alexis Wegner. When she got to UVA, she hadn’t gone a best time since she was 14 and she dropped a ton of time at UVA and became a star. No one can predict how they will do in a new environment. It’s disappointing that the current college landscape doesn’t seem to allow for a swimmer to have a not so great freshman year and still stick with it to see payoffs later on, but that’s an NCAA problem, not just a UVA problem. I wish Raya the best at UNC!
It’s a possibility that at certain (many?) schools, they get time and grace.. don’t think UVA has the need (or desire?) to wait.
I would not be surprised if it is Taylor’s continuing abuse, and luck of attention if you are not number 1..
I wonder why coach Shrum left..
I mean.
UVa swimmers all seem to love Gary Taylor and the coaching chatter says Todd DeSorbo’s greatest strength is taking a bunch of #1s and making them all feel like the most important swimmer in the pool.
So.
Your wondering doesn’t seem to align with everyone else’s opinions.
But I’ve never been on deck at a UVa practice so if you have and would like to share your personal experience, please do!
I’m sure some swimmers at Auburn loved him too…and some at Cal loved their ex coach too…
Like I said: I’ve never been on deck at a Gary Taylor practice. I’m just encouraging people to share their own experiences if they have them versus projecting. No Virginia swimmer has ever communicated to me that they felt Gary was abusive toward them. Many Auburn swimmers did. And a metric ton of CYAC parents did.
I have no evidence that Gary Taylor is why she left. If someone else does…they should definitely share that, and I would encourage them to.
I actually met Teri McKeever a few times and she was way nicer to me than I would have figured someone in her position would/should be. Then the stuff came out a few months later and I was like :0
The stuff with Teri was not as straightforward as they tried to portray it.
Believe me, I know.
Same
Glad to hear about what she’s got going on right now. Some peace and quiet while doing something fun
If you aren’t the fastest at UVA, you don’t get coaching attention. Doesn’t help to have Taylor on staff either, given his history with female swimmers.
Maybe that’s why there are no recruits for 2027? And I think Gary should be fired
And yet, they are setup to win 2027 and likely 2028.
2027 yes, maybe 2028
2 full seconds is a lot… she had to be injured or some sort of issue
The way the article sounds, she may not have had a final taper meet. 2 second add for a midseason invite is expected in my opinion.
I heard her boyfriend is a real catch
Surprised she didn’t come back to the west coast. Cal is full of breaststrokers now but ucla/usc/ucsb could have fit. Best of luck!
Is Lana Pudar still at UVA?
Right this moment she’s at a training camp in Spain.
No indication that she’s leaving Virginia long term.
It’ll be interesting to see if she has a good LCM season at home, would she return back to UVA. SCY wasn’t great this season.
Lana had some kind of illness that put her in the hospital and out of training shortly before
last summers Worlds
And she had to withdraw from Singapore
Gangloff is a greatbreast stroke coach
I read this as Gandalf
My brain working great
I see Gandalf as more of a mid-distance kind of coach.
Or a coach for something like an Ironman
Gandalf when a swimmer questions his training methods