Destin Lasco, Isabelle Stadden Win as Cal Opens Season at King/Queen of the Pool Meet

Destin Lasco, Isabelle Stadden Win as Cal Opens Season at King/Queen of the Pool Meet

The Cal men’s and women’s teams began their first season as a somewhat-combined program (with longtime men’s head coach Dave Durden now serving as acting director of both programs) at the King/Queen of the Pool Meet against Cal Poly. The Golden Bears dominated the competition, and a pair of standout backstrokers took the top spot. Destin Lasco, a Cal junior who captured the NCAA title in the 200-yard backstroke last year, finished more than eight seconds ahead of the men’s field, while U.S. Nationals 200-meter back champion Isabelle Stadden edged out Ayla Spitz in the women’s meet.

The event consisted of all swimmers racing 100 yards of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle and IM and then combining the times to determine a winner. Lasco had the top time in the 100 back (47.19) and 100 IM (48.52), and his 100 free mark of 43.63 was just one hundredth behind teammate Jack Alexy. Dare Rose went 48.30 in the 100 fly, while Jason Louser clocked in at 55.54 in the 100 breast. Overall, Lasco finished with a combined time of 4:04.23, while Robin Hanson (4:12.34) and Evan Petty (4:12.58) placed second and third, respectively, for the Bears.

Stadden, meanwhile, went 52.82 in the 100 back and 55.74 in the 100 IM on the way to an overall time of 4:39.05, the second-quickest mark ever by a Cal swimmer behind Abbey Weitzeil’s 2019 mark of 4:38.76. Spitz was next in 4:40.78, and third was Annika McEnroe in 4:46.63. McKenna Stone had the fastest 100 fly time (54.75), and Alicia Henry topped the 100 breast (1:02.34) before Eloise Riley finished in 50.09 in the 100 free.

Full results from the meet are available here.

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