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

2022 Speedo Junior Championships

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.

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Cindi
2 years ago

Go sharkacuda!!!!!!

NUSwimFan
2 years ago

These us breaststroke girls are fast! Can they donate one to Canada please 🥲

Troyy
Reply to  NUSwimFan
2 years ago

They have a production line of female breaststrokers.

Ethan Hall
2 years ago

Go Raya! Yes!

About Annika Johnson

Annika Johnson

Annika came into the sport competitively at age eight, following in the footsteps of her twin sister and older brother. The sibling rivalry was further fueled when all three began focusing on distance freestyle, forcing the family to buy two lap counters. Annika is a three-time Futures finalist in the 200 …

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