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
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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
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=== 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
Nice swim Destin!