NCAA Men’s Championships: Destin Lasco Repeats in 200 Back, Scares Ryan Murphy Record

destin-lasco-
Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Men’s Championships: Destin Lasco Repeats in 200 Back, Scares Ryan Murphy Record

The 200 back has become Destin Lasco’s property. Three years, two wins, no worse than second place – that’ll do it. Even if the times have left him occasionally a tad frustrated.

And, well, this week, Cal showed that it knows a thing or two about succeeding through frustration.

Lasco nearly added an NCAA record to the pile Saturday night, winning gold in 1:35.87 at the 2023 NCAA Men’s Championships. On Day 4 of the meet, it was the first Cal championship of the meet, and it would go down as the only one that Golden Bears would win on the way to the team title.

Lasco came with .14 seconds of the NCAA record set by a Cal and American backstroking icon, Ryan Murphy, who Lasco trains with and considers a mentor. The time also lowers the pool record he set in the morning at 1:36.68.

Second was Hugo Gonzalez, despite a glacial reaction time of 0.94 seconds, in 1:36.72.

Lasco’s win in 2022 came with a caveat: He was less than pleased with the 1:37.71 he put up in finals, and it took a bit of convincing that his hard work was leading to the progress he desired.

“When I saw 1:35 pop on the board, I was so happy and it was full circle,” he said. “Last year I won, but it was with a 1:37 and I definitely put in a lot of hard work that year but it didn’t come to fruition in the way I wanted it to. So coming back this year and racing such a fast and deep field every time I stood on the block, it made me such a strong person.”

Third was Hubert Kos of Arizona State in 1:37.96. His fellow ASU freshman Owen McDonald was fifth. With Texas’ Carson Foster, who was second last year, sliding to eight, it means Arizona State’s bump over the Longhorns for second place is now 24 points.

Fourth place went to Georgia’s Ian Grum in 1:38.47. Kacper Stokowski, the runner-up in the 100 back, finished sixth in 1:39.95. Jack Dahlgren of Missouri grabbed another medal in 1:39.45.

Georgia’s Bradley Dunham led most of the way in the B final but ran out of gas in the final 50. That allowed Auburn’s Aidan Stoffle, swimming out of Lane 1, to overtake him and get his hand to the wall first in 1:39.30. Tommy Janton of Notre Same also got in there in 1:39.45, Dunham finishing 11th overall in 1:39.86.

Lasco’s win helped banish a bit of frustration for a Golden Bears squad that stuffed the podium to championship proportions all meet but didn’t come away with any wins beside his. That resilience was baked into Lasco’s week, and it applied for the team at large.

“Even though I got second in the 2IM or third in the 500, I was like, I’m going to keep getting up and not give up,” he said, “because I knew I needed to score as many points as possible for the team to bring home a national championship.”

 Event 16  Men 200 Yard Backstroke
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:35.73  3/26/2016 Ryan Murphy, California
         Meet: M 1:35.73  3/26/2016 Ryan Murphy, California
     American: A 1:35.73  3/26/2016 Ryan Murphy, California
   U. S. Open: O 1:35.73  3/26/2016 Ryan Murphy, California
         Pool: P 1:36.68  3/25/2023 Destin Lasco, California
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                       === Championship Final ===                        
 
  1 Lasco, Destin          JR California        1:36.68    1:35.87P  20  
    r:+0.72  22.87        47.27 (24.40)
        1:11.48 (24.21)     1:35.87 (24.39)
  2 Gonzalez, Hugo         5Y California        1:37.74    1:36.72   17  
    r:+0.94  22.93        47.27 (24.34)
        1:12.12 (24.85)     1:36.72 (24.60)
  3 Kos, Hubert            FR ASU               1:38.25    1:37.96   16  
    r:+0.71  22.50        47.51 (25.01)
        1:12.86 (25.35)     1:37.96 (25.10)
  4 Grum, Ian              SR Georgia           1:38.39    1:38.47   15  
    r:+0.58  22.81        47.62 (24.81)
        1:13.09 (25.47)     1:38.47 (25.38)
  5 McDonald, Owen         FR ASU               1:39.54    1:39.34   14  
    r:+0.68  22.76        47.77 (25.01)
        1:13.53 (25.76)     1:39.34 (25.81)
  6 Stokowski, Kacper      SR NC State          1:39.27    1:39.35   13  
    r:+0.67  22.51        47.65 (25.14)
        1:13.35 (25.70)     1:39.35 (26.00)
  7 Dahlgren, Jack         5Y Missouri          1:38.62    1:39.45   12  
    r:+0.68  23.34        48.49 (25.15)
        1:13.89 (25.40)     1:39.45 (25.56)
  8 Foster, Carson         JR Texas             1:38.37    1:39.48   11  
    r:+0.70  22.94        47.76 (24.82)
        1:13.27 (25.51)     1:39.48 (26.21)
 
                        === Consolation Final ===                        
 
  9 Stoffle, Aidan         SR Auburn            1:40.07    1:39.30    9  
    r:+0.68  23.52        48.54 (25.02)
        1:14.02 (25.48)     1:39.30 (25.28)
 10 Janton, Tommy          FR Notre Dame        1:39.83    1:39.45    7  
    r:+0.79  23.16        48.39 (25.23)
        1:14.23 (25.84)     1:39.45 (25.22)
 11 Dunham, Bradley        SR Georgia           1:39.60    1:39.86    6  
    r:+0.72  23.23        48.10 (24.87)
        1:13.63 (25.53)     1:39.86 (26.23)
 12 Mefford, Colby         SR California        1:39.74    1:39.88    5  
    r:+0.65  23.65        48.85 (25.20)
        1:14.11 (25.26)     1:39.88 (25.77)
 13 Van Renen, Ruard       FR SIUC              1:39.73    1:40.22    4  
    r:+0.66  23.37        49.27 (25.90)
        1:14.76 (25.49)     1:40.22 (25.46)
 14 Sequeira, Aaron        SO Stanford          1:39.91    1:40.66    3  
    r:+0.67  23.30        48.84 (25.54)
        1:14.69 (25.85)     1:40.66 (25.97)
 15 Simons, Nick           FR Tennessee         1:40.75    1:40.78    2  
    r:+0.71  23.61        49.31 (25.70)
        1:15.34 (26.03)     1:40.78 (25.44)
 16 Somerset, Sebastian    SR California        1:40.04    1:41.91    1  
    r:+0.59  24.16        50.07 (25.91)
        1:16.20 (26.13)     1:41.91 (25.71)
 
                 Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 16                  
 
  1. California                        367   2. Arizona St                        346
  3. Texas                             322   4. NC State                        302.5
  5. Florida                           264   6. Indiana                           259
  7. Tennessee                         146   8. Stanford                        115.5
  9. Auburn                            105  10. Virginia Tech                      96
 11. Georgia                            90  12. Louisville                         71
 13. Virginia                           67  14. Ohio St                          66.5
 15. Texas A&M                          65  16. Missouri                         62.5
 17. Notre Dame                         55  18. Alabama                            40
 18. Lsu                                40  20. Southern California                31
 21. Wisconsin                          27  21. UNC                                27
 23. Michigan                           24  24. Minnesota                          20
 25. Utah                               14  26. Siuc                               13
 26. Kentucky                           13  28. Columbia                           12
 29. Arizona                            10  30. Miami                               9
 31. Pittsburgh                          4  31. Penn St                             4
 31. Princeton                           4  34. Georgia Tech                        3
 35. Air Force                           2  35. Towson                              2
 37. Purdue                              1
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Rob Davis
Rob Davis
1 year ago

Nice swim Destin!

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