Destin Lasco Chooses 200 IM Over 200 Free to Avoid Day 3 Double at NCAAs

2021 NCAA MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• When: Wednesday, March 24 – Saturday, March 27, 2021
• Where: Greensboro Aquatic Center / Greensboro, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
• Defending champion: Cal (1x) – 2019 results
• Streaming:
• Championship Central
• Live Results

Adding to his backstroke events, Cal freshman Destin Lasco will take on the 200 IM for his third event at the 2021 NCAA Men’s Championships.

• Full pre-selection NCAA men’s psych sheets
• Projecting the cutline

This is a break from his 2021 Pac-12 Conference Championships schedule, where he pulled off the 200 free/100 back double and then swam the 200 back on the final day of the meet. At Pac-12s, Lasco was 1:33.73 in the 200 free final to take sixth, then turned around to win the 100 back (45.30) with only the 100 breast finals in-between. Lasco’s 1:33.28 leading off Cal’s 800 free relay at Pac-12s was a lifetime best, while he also went a PR 1:38.13 in the 200 back there. His 100 back PR is a 45.21 from November.

Lasco has only raced the 200 IM once this season, in a dual meet with USC in late January, where he went 1:45.91. He beat teammate Hugo Gonzalez for the meet win. Lasco’s lifetime best in the event is a 1:44.59 from the New Jersey HS Meet of Champions in March 2018, three years ago.

Lasco’s 1:45.91 is barely a ‘B’ cut, so he’s seeded down at 79th, while his lifetime best would seed him 43rd. For context, at the time of Lasco’s 1:44.59 PR, he was 1:37.0 in the 200 free and 46.7/1:41.9 in the backstrokes.

At 2019 NCAAs, it took a 1:43.0 to make the 200 IM B-final and a 1:42.2 to make the A-final. Lasco now only has one individual race per day at NCAAs, which should help his 100 back, where he’s knocking on the door of a 44-second swim.