NCAA Men’s Championships: Destin Lasco Leads 200 Back as Cal Poised for Big Score

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

NCAA Men’s Championships: Destin Lasco Leads 200 Back as Cal Poised for Big Score

The convergence point, for a series of excellent IMers, on their third event this year seems to be the 200 backstroke. Excepting Leon Marchand, who is contesting the 200 breast, most of the top IMers were present and accounted for Saturday morning in prelims at the University of Minnesota.

It sets up a fascinating and fast final with important implications for the team race.

Cal stamped its dominance on the event with Destin Lasco leading the field in 1:36.68, a Jean K. Freeman Aquatics Center record. The Golden Bears have two A finalists, with Hugo Gonzalez second in 1:37.74. But Arizona State worked to counter that, with a pumped up Hubert Kos third and fellow freshman Owen McDonald nudging into the A final by .06 in eighth.

Texas’ Carson Foster will have a say, too, finishing fourth in prelims in 1:38.37.

The Golden Bears entered the morning with 315 points in the team standings, ahead of Arizona State’s 302 and Texas on 292.

Lasco was third in the 100 back Friday night. Gonzalez was second in the 400 IM after finishing a spot behind Lasco in third in the 200 IM. Foster was third in the 400 IM and fourth in the 200 IM.

Lasco is the reigning champion. Foster was second.

California added two B finalists: Colby Mefford, who was just 26th in the 100 back but entered as the third seed, landed 11th. Sebastian Somerset was 14th.

Ian Grum is in the A final for Georgia in 1:38.39. Missouri’s Jack Dahlgren continues a stellar meet by taking sixth for an A final lane; that’s the position he finished last year. Kacper Stokowski, the 100 back runner-up, got a finals lane in seventh. (Brendan Burns, the winner of the 100 back, opted for the 200 fly.)

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 1:37.35  12/7/2019 Austin Katz, Texas
    Name                 Year School               Seed    Prelims        
==================================================================
                      === Preliminaries ===                       
 
  1 Lasco, Destin          JR California        1:36.94    1:36.68P 
    r:+0.66  23.27        47.92 (24.65)
        1:12.38 (24.46)     1:36.68 (24.30)
  2 Gonzalez, Hugo         5Y California        1:37.19    1:37.74  
    r:+0.75  23.26        47.54 (24.28)
        1:12.44 (24.90)     1:37.74 (25.30)
  3 Kos, Hubert            FR ASU               1:39.21    1:38.25  
    r:+0.70  22.68        47.59 (24.91)
        1:13.00 (25.41)     1:38.25 (25.25)
  4 Foster, Carson         JR Texas             1:38.87    1:38.37  
    r:+0.62  22.62        47.21 (24.59)
        1:12.63 (25.42)     1:38.37 (25.74)
  5 Grum, Ian              SR Georgia           1:38.84    1:38.39  
    r:+0.76  22.85        47.62 (24.77)
        1:12.87 (25.25)     1:38.39 (25.52)
  6 Dahlgren, Jack         5Y Missouri          1:39.80    1:38.62  
    r:+0.80  22.88        47.72 (24.84)
        1:12.97 (25.25)     1:38.62 (25.65)
  7 Stokowski, Kacper      SR NC State          1:39.94    1:39.27  
    r:+0.63  23.04        47.94 (24.90)
        1:13.60 (25.66)     1:39.27 (25.67)
  8 McDonald, Owen         FR ASU               1:39.01    1:39.54  
    r:+0.64  22.97        48.08 (25.11)
        1:13.87 (25.79)     1:39.54 (25.67)
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  9 Dunham, Bradley        SR Georgia           1:38.90    1:39.60  
    r:+0.81  23.27        47.79 (24.52)
        1:13.52 (25.73)     1:39.60 (26.08)
 10 Van Renen, Ruard       FR SIUC              1:40.64    1:39.73  
    r:+0.63  23.31        48.77 (25.46)
        1:14.16 (25.39)     1:39.73 (25.57)
 11 Mefford, Colby         SR California        1:38.83    1:39.74  
    r:+0.59  23.67        48.83 (25.16)
        1:13.79 (24.96)     1:39.74 (25.95)
 12 Janton, Tommy          FR Notre Dame        1:40.30    1:39.83  
    r:+0.76  23.23        48.33 (25.10)
        1:13.99 (25.66)     1:39.83 (25.84)
 13 Sequeira, Aaron        SO Stanford          1:39.94    1:39.91  
    r:+0.70  23.24        48.28 (25.04)
        1:13.85 (25.57)     1:39.91 (26.06)
 14 Somerset, Sebastian    SR California        1:40.44    1:40.04  
    r:+0.60  23.65        49.09 (25.44)
        1:14.58 (25.49)     1:40.04 (25.46)
 15 Stoffle, Aidan         SR Auburn            1:39.64    1:40.07  
    r:+0.79  23.16        47.78 (24.62)
        1:13.18 (25.40)     1:40.07 (26.89)
 16 Simons, Nick           FR Tennessee         1:40.05    1:40.75  
    r:+0.67  23.20        48.95 (25.75)
        1:14.78 (25.83)     1:40.75 (25.97)

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use