Shaine Casas Fights Off Push From Lasco to Scare Murphy’s American Record in 200 Back
Texas A&M junior Shaine Casas and Cal freshman Destin Lasco had locked all horns all weekend long at the NCAA swimming and diving championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, with Casas winning both the 200 IM and 100 backstroke with Lasco finishing third in both.
In round three between the pair, they saved their best for last as they joined the exclusive sub-1:36 club that now has three members. Casas won at 1:35.75 to just miss Ryan Murphy’s record of 1:35.73 from the 2016 NCAAs that many consider one of the most impressive records on the books. Lasco gave Casas a good fight as they were stroke for stroke down to the finish, as the freshman was second at 1:35.99.
Lasco took the lead at the 150 by 0.02 but Casas did not back down, and the two flipped even at the final 25.
Cal scored big points to close the gap on Texas with Lasco, Bryce Mefford (1:38.31) and Daniel Carr (1:38.86) finishing 2-3-4 to pull within 26 points of the Longhorns, who had two finalists themselves. Senior Austin Katz (1:38.92) and freshman Carson Foster (1:39.23) cancelled out some of Cal’s point loading iin fifth and sixth place as it looks like the Longhorns may be jumping into the pool at the end of the night.
Florida’s Clark Beach (1:40.42) and Georgia’s Javier Acevedo (1:41.80) also swam in the championship final.
Texas A&M now has three NCAA titles in men’s swimming and diving, all coming from Casas this weekend. This is the first NCAA title for the SEC in the men’s 200 back since Tennessee’s Tripp Schwenk won in 1993.
All-Time Rankings:
- 1:35.73, Ryan Murphy, California, 2016
- 1:35.75, Shaine Casas, Texas A&M, 2021
- 1:35.99, Destin Lasco, California, 2021
- 1:36.42, John Shebat, Texas, 2019
- 1:36.45, Austin Katz, Texas, 2019
- 1:36.81, Ryan Lochte, Florida, 2006
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 1:37.19 3/27/2021 Destin Lasco, California
Name Year School Prelims Finals Points
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=== Championship Final ===
1 Casas, Shaine JR TAMU 1:37.23 1:35.75P 20
r:+0.62 22.35 46.95 (24.60)
1:11.53 (24.58) 1:35.75 (24.22)
2 Lasco, Destin FR California 1:37.19 1:35.99P 17
r:+0.70 22.79 47.22 (24.43)
1:11.51 (24.29) 1:35.99 (24.48)
3 Mefford, Bryce SR California 1:38.55 1:38.31 16
r:+0.65 23.11 47.76 (24.65)
1:12.87 (25.11) 1:38.31 (25.44)
4 Carr, Daniel SR California 1:38.63 1:38.86 15
r:+0.64 23.27 48.22 (24.95)
1:13.61 (25.39) 1:38.86 (25.25)
5 Katz, Austin SR Texas 1:39.55 1:38.92 14
r:+0.68 22.90 47.48 (24.58)
1:12.88 (25.40) 1:38.92 (26.04)
6 Foster, Carson FR Texas 1:38.41 1:39.23 13
r:+0.71 23.48 48.61 (25.13)
1:14.02 (25.41) 1:39.23 (25.21)
7 Beach, Clark SR Florida 1:40.20 1:40.42 12
r:+0.53 23.58 48.66 (25.08)
1:14.64 (25.98) 1:40.42 (25.78)
8 Acevedo, Javi SR Georgia 1:39.60 1:41.80 11
r:+0.75 24.26 49.76 (25.50)
1:15.98 (26.22) 1:41.80 (25.82)
=== Consolation Final ===
9 Whyte, Mitchell JR Louisville 1:40.51 1:40.00 9
r:+0.69 22.90 48.11 (25.21)
1:14.20 (26.09) 1:40.00 (25.80)
10 Grum, Ian SO Georgia 1:41.02 1:40.01 7
r:+0.67 23.46 48.60 (25.14)
1:14.32 (25.72) 1:40.01 (25.69)
11 Dahlgren, Jack JR Missouri 1:40.49 1:40.33 6
r:+0.75 23.65 49.29 (25.64)
1:14.83 (25.54) 1:40.33 (25.50)
12 Tornqvist, Sam SR VT 1:40.81 1:40.54 5
r:+0.60 23.65 49.26 (25.61)
1:15.15 (25.89) 1:40.54 (25.39)
13 Mefford, Colby SO California 1:41.08 1:40.64 4
r:+0.61 23.70 49.18 (25.48)
1:14.48 (25.30) 1:40.64 (26.16)
14 Grender, Justin JR Virginia 1:40.20 1:41.12 3
r:+0.68 23.52 49.09 (25.57)
1:15.20 (26.11) 1:41.12 (25.92)
15 Steele, Jacob SR Indiana 1:40.49 1:41.44 2
r:+0.66 23.40 48.70 (25.30)
1:15.01 (26.31) 1:41.44 (26.43)
16 Fantoni, Gabriel SR Indiana 1:41.07 1:42.53 1
r:+0.77 23.27 49.19 (25.92)
1:15.93 (26.74) 1:42.53 (26.60)
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 16 1. Texas 466 2. California 440 3. Florida 314 4. Georgia 236 5. Indiana 168 6. Louisville 159 7. Texas A&M 147 8. NC State 136 9. Ohio St 119 10. Virginia 105 11. Michigan 100 12. Arizona 81 13. Missouri 73 14. Virginia Tech 65 15. Stanford 64 16. Alabama 53 17. Lsu 52 18. Tennessee 38 18. University of Miami 38 20. UNC 31 20. Purdue 31 22. Notre Dame 29 22. Georgia Tech 29 24. Florida St 24.5 25. Pittsburgh 23 26. Minnesota 20 27. Wisconsin 15 27. Southern California 15 29. Penn St 13 30. Kentucky 9 31. Utah 6.5
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