14-Year-Old Luke Ellis Blasts 4:30 400 Meter IM, #6 All-Time in Age Group

Western Zones Senior Championships

• July 27 – 31, 2021
• Clovis North High School, Fresno, CA
• Long Course Meters (50 Meters)
• Results on Meet Mobile: “Finals – Western Zone Senior Champs”

14-year-old Luke Ellis of Sandpipers of Nevada was unstoppable at the Western Zone Senior Championships last weekend. He blasted a 4:30.27 400 IM to win the event and become the 6th all-time fastest in his age group.

He dropped about 5 seconds from his previous lifetime best time from April, and now trails names like 28-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps, Cal’s Sean Grieshop, Texas’ Carson Foster, and Brennan Morris who went on to swim for Loyola University in Maryland. 

In the 200 back, Ellis swam a 2:05.74 to drop about 2.3 seconds from his lifetime best time from March to win the race. This ranks him 22nd out of the all-time fastest swimmers in his age group, passing names like 2016 Olympian Jacob Pebley and 2016 Olympic medalist Jack Conger.

Then, Ellis hit the freestyle events. His first event of the meet was the 1500 free where he posted a time of 15:59.95 to snag 2nd place and rank himself #22 out of the all-time fastest 1500 freestylers in his age group. 

He dropped more than 50 seconds from his previous lifetime best time from April. 

He then took down his lifetime best 400 free time with a 4:04.19 to place 9th and rank himself #37 out of the all-time fastest 400 freestylers in his age group, directly ahead of Texas’ Maxime Rooney. Going into this meet, Ellis’ lifetime best time was 4:21.15 from 2019.

He also swam the:

• 200 IM 2:10.28 
• 100 back 1:00.12 

Both were lifetime bests; Ellis dropped about 2.5 seconds from March in the 200 IM to place 5th and about 4.5 seconds from 2019 in the 100 back to place 9th. He is now ranked #62 out of the all-time fastest 200 IM’ers in his age group.

Other Highlights

• 13-year-old Blake Hill of Crow Canyon Country Club Sharks was another young standout at this meet. He swam a 2:12.23 in the 200 fly to place 26th, dropping about 5 seconds from his lifetime best time going into this meet from June.
• On the girls’ side, 14-year-old Zara Masud of Aquazot Swim Club dropped about .9 from her lifetime best 100 fly time from early July for a time of 1:02.08 and a 1st place finish.
• Also in the girls’ 100 fly, Claire Tuggle of Santa Maria Swim Club came within .10 of the lifetime best 100 fly time she posted at the U.S. Olympic Trials, 1:03.20, to place 3rd. Earlier, Tuggle swam a lifetime best 100 breast time of 1:12.69 to win the event, dropping about 1.5 seconds from her lifetime best time from 2018.
• 13-year-old Raya Mellott of Crow Canyon Country Club Sharks posted a 1:13.21 in the 100 breast. She dropped about half a second from her lifetime best time from Sectionals in early July.