2025 M. NCAA Previews: Lasco Fends Off Stacked Field In Pursuit of 200 IM Title Defense

2025 Men’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships

• March 26-29, 2025
• Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center, Federal Way, Washington
• Short Course Yards (25 yards)
• SwimSwam Pick’Em Contest
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Psych Sheet

MEN’S 200 IM – BY THE NUMBERS

• NCAA Record: 1:36.34, Leon Marchand (Arizona State) – 2023
• American Record: 1:37.91, Destin Lasco (Cal) – 2024
• U.S. Open Record: 1:36.34, Leon Marchand (Arizona State) – 2023
• Championship Record: 1:36.34, Leon Marchand (Arizona State) – 2023

The 200 IM is shaping up to be one of the most interesting events at the Men’s NCAA Championships, with no shortage of big names flooding the psych sheets.

The defending champion, Cal’s Destin Lasco, dominated the field last year, winning the title by well over a second and breaking the American Record, but he hasn’t been anywhere near his top form so far this season. It’s not out of the ordinary for Lasco to be lurking in the weeds throughout the season and then show up on career-best form at NCAAs, but can he do it again, with the event looking more stacked than ever? That’s the big question.

THE DEFENDING CHAMPION

Now in his fifth year at Cal, Lasco has progressively gotten faster in the 200 IM each year at the NCAA Championships, going from 1:40.01 as a freshman in 2021 all the way down to 1:37.91 en route to his first title in the event last season:

Lasco’s 200 IM NCAA Final Performances

• 2021 – 1:40.01 (3rd)
• 2022 – 1:38.21 (2nd)
• 2023 – 1:38.10 (2nd)
• 2024 – 1:37.91 (1st)

Destin Lasco (photo: Jack Spitser)

If this trajectory continues and Lasco improves his American Record time from last season, he’ll be near impossible to beat. The only swimmer faster than him in history is Leon Marchand, who has turned pro, and the only other swimmer in the NCAA field this season who has been under 1:39 is Hubert Kos, who was 1:38.77 last season at Pac-12s before placing 3rd at NCAAs in 1:39.66.

However, Lasco’s times this season have been his slowest leading up to NCAAs in his career.

Last year prior to his record-setting and title-winning swim he skipped the Pac-12 Championships but had been 1:40.16 at the Minnesota Invite in December. During the 2022-23 season, he was 1:40.60 at Pac-12s prior to NCAAs, and during his freshman year, he went 1:41.53 at the Minnesota Invite and 1:41.70 at the conference championships before dropping down to 1:38 at nationals.

This season, Lasco’s fastest swim comes from a late January dual meet, where he went 1:41.68, and last month at ACCs, he was only 1:42.80 for 6th place. That might be cause for concern for some, but he’s shown he can deliver when it counts.

There shouldn’t be any doubt that Lasco will be a factor in the ‘A’ final, but if he’s just a touch off his 1:37.9 form, we’ll likely see him battling with a few others in the 1:38-high range for the victory.

SMITH TAKES THE NEXT STEP

Julian Smith has been one of the biggest breakout stories of the NCAA season, acknowledging that he was already an elite swimmer, but he’s taken a giant leap in his senior year.

Julian Smith (photo: Jack Spitser)

The Florida Gator has been making headlines for his record-breaking performances in the 100 breast and producing the fastest 50 breast relay split of all-time at SECs, but he’s also established himself as a title contender in the 200 IM after winning the conference title last month.

Smith was 16th in the 200 IM at the 2023 NCAAs after setting a best time of 1:42.08 in the prelims, and then last year, he set a PB of 1:41.87 in the heats before placing 11th in the final (1:42.22).

This season, he first brought his best time down to 1:41.01 at the UGA Invitational in November, and then joined the sub-1:40 club at SECs, clocking 1:39.38 to win the title comfortably ahead of a loaded field.

Smith Split Comparison – 2023 to 2025

After his breakthrough swims at SECs, Smith has the added pressure of being the top seed in the 200 IM for the NCAA Championships, and we’ll have to wait and see if he can back that up. One thing working in his favor is the fact that he’s improved from SECs to NCAAs in the event at the last two championship meets—albeit both of his best swims at NCAAs came in the prelims—which is a good omen heading into next week.

THE TEXAS TRIO

The Texas Longhorns have a very good chance of putting three swimmers into the ‘A’ final this season, with ASU transfer Hubert Kos joining the sophomore duo of Nate Germonprez and Will Modglin.

Last season, as previously mentioned, Kos went 1:38.77 to win the Pac-12 title before placing 3rd at NCAAs, while Germonprez placed 7th in the NCAA final last season as a freshman in a personal best of 1:40.89.

Will Modglin (photo: Jack Spitser)

Modglin won the Big 12 title last season in a PB of 1:41.01, but had an ‘off’ swim in the NCAA prelims, placing 29th (1:43.29) before rebounding and performing well in the backstroke events.

This season, Kos has been as fast as 1:40.51, done on November 1 in a dual meet with Indiana, while Modglin is coming off hitting a lifetime best of 1:40.64 to place 2nd to Smith at SECs.

Germonprez has lagged behind them, setting a season-best of 1:42.71 at SECs to finish 8th, but he’s shown he can perform at NCAAs and has made big gains this year in the breaststroke events.

Since going 1:40.51 in early November, Kos has been 1:41 four times, and that consistency indicates he’s in for a big drop at NCAAs, surely sub-1:40 and likely under 1:39.

Germonprez and Moglin are a little more unpredictable, but both have been thriving in their first season swimming with Bob Bowman and either of them breaking 1:40 wouldn’t be a huge surprise.

Texas has a few other men with a shot at a second swim: 15th seed Camden Taylor (1:41.58) and 21st seed Ben Sampson (1:41.88).

BIG TEN CONTENDERS

Five of the top nine seeds in the 200 IM come out of the Big Ten, which is a significant shift after only one swimmer in the conference made the ‘A’ final last year.

Owen McDonald (photo: Jack Spitser)

Winning the Big Ten title last month was Indiana’s Owen McDonald, Kos’ former teammate at ASU who joined the Hoosiers in the fall, who used a blistering front half to claim the conference title in 1:39.89, just over six-tenths shy of the 1:39.23 he posted en route to placing 2nd at NCAAs last season.

Finishing behind McDonald at Big Tens was Michigan’s Gal Cohen Groumi (1:40.34), Indiana’s Luke Barr (1:40.62), Michigan’s Colin Geer (1:40.65) and Ohio State’s Tristan Jankovics (1:41.09).

The swim for Groumi was a season-best, having set a PB of 1:39.87 en route to his 5th-place finish last year at NCAAs, while Barr, Geer and Jankovics also set new lifetime bests.

McDonald is a legitimate threat for the title—he can match Lasco on the first 100, and Lasco’s breaststroke was the key difference-maker last year, but it hasn’t been there this season…yet.

Groumi is experienced and can be counted on to be 1:39-high or 1:40-low, which should put him in the top eight, with Barr arguably having the highest ceiling after ripping the fastest 100 IM ever earlier this month (45.74) coupled with the fact he improved from Big Tens to NCAAs in this event last year (while Geer added).

Jankovics has a much better chance of doing damage in the 400 IM, and might not have the same speed as some of the other contenders. He also had a sizeable time drop at Big Tens, and might not be able to recreate that after firing on all cylinders at the conference meet.

OTHER ‘A’ FINAL THREATS

The reigning ACC champion Carles Coll Marti will be out for a redemption swim in the 200 IM this year after he was disqualified in the prelims at the 2024 NCAAs, having initially posted a time fast enough to make the ‘A’ final (1:41.34).

Carles Coll Marti (photo: Jack Spitser)

The Virginia Tech fifth-year has been on fire this season in the 200 breast, and won the 200 IM at ACCs last month in 1:40.95, ranking him 8th on the psych sheets coming in.

He is one of the few swimmers who has broken 1:40 in the event, but it came back at the 2022 NCAAs (1:39.63), and he hadn’t been under 1:41 until the 2025 ACCs. He’s moving in the right direction, and if he’s in the hunt after the first 100, he should close well and make the ‘A’ final.

Other names to keep an eye on include Texas A&M’s Baylor Nelson, Stanford’s Ron Polonsky and NC State’s Daniel Diehl, who all earned second swims in the event last season.

Nelson was 8th in 2024 and has consistently been able to produce 1:41s, having only dipped under twice in 2023. He’ll surely need to be back in the 1:40s in the prelims this year to crack the top eight again.

Polonsky, like Coll Marti, has broken 1:40 before, but did so in 2022, clocking 1:39.96 when he won the ‘B’ final. He was 5th in 2023 and took 12th last year, getting progressively slower every season. He has a chance to buck that trend this year, having already been 1:41 twice this season, indicating getting back into the 1:40s should be in the cards.

While Coll Marti won the title and Polonsky placed 3rd at last month’s ACCs, Diehl trailed the top names, placing 12th out fo the ‘B’ final. He’s coming off setting a best time in November at the Wolfpack Elite Invite in 1:41.39, and will need a similar performance in the NCAA prelims to earn another second swim. Last March, he set a PB at the time in the heats in 1:41.84 to advance to the consols, ultimately placing 16th.

Flying under the radar a bit in this event coming in is Georgia’s Luca Urlando, the 8th-fastest performer in history who placed 3rd in a blistering time of 1:39.22 when he last competed at NCAAs in 2022.

After missing the 2023 meet due to injury and then redshirting last season, Urlando has been back on top form in 2024-25 in the butterfly events, and though he hasn’t hit lifetime best form yet in the 200 IM, he’s been solid, going 1:41 on three separate occasions.

Prior to his 1:39.2 swim in 2022, he had gone 1:41.19 at the SEC Championships, and this year, he was 1:41.46 at the conference meet, so he’s on track for a big swim.

SWIMSWAM’S PICKS

Dark Horse: Mitchell Schott, Princeton – Schott qualified for NCAAs for the first time this season as a junior, coming off a breakout performance at the Ivy League Championships where he swept his individual events. In the 200 IM, Schott brought his best time down from 1:42.84 to 1:41.44 in one day at Ivies, earning him the 13th seed on the psych sheets. Can he carry that momentum into his debut NCAAs, or will he have a come-down after the Ivy breakout?