Lasco Records Fastest 200 IM By A Freshman In 1:40.01, Now #9 All-Time

2021 NCAA MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

  • When: Wednesday, March 24 – Saturday, March 27, 2021
  • Where: Greensboro Aquatic Center / Greensboro, NC (Eastern Time Zone)
  • Prelims 10 AM/ Finals 6 PM (Local Time)
  • Short course yards (SCY) format
  • Defending champion: Cal (1x) – 2019 results
  • Championship Central
  • Psych Sheets
  • Live Results

After becoming the fastest freshman of all-time in this morning’s preliminaries, Destin Lasco took off another six-tenths to lower the first-year record in the 200 IM on Thursday night at the Men’s NCAA Championships.

Currently in his first year with Cal, Lasco produced a time of 1:40.01 in the ‘A’ final, improving on his 1:40.61 from the heats. The 19-year-old’s performance tonight earned him a third place finish, with Texas A&M’s Shaine Casas winning the title in 1:39.54 and Lasco’s junior teammate Hugo Gonzalez the runner-up in 1:39.99.

Split Comparison

Lasco’s improvement from the morning came almost entirely on the butterfly leg.

Lasco, NCAA Prelims Lasco, NCAA Final
22.37 21.79
47.20 (24.83) 46.82 (25.03)
1:16.62 (29.42) 1:16.21 (29.39)
1:40.61 (23.99) 1:40.01 (23.80)

Prior to this morning, Lasco had only raced the event once this season, going 1:45.91, and held a best time of 1:44.59 from 2018. This resulted in him claiming the top prelim seed after coming in ranked 58th.

Placing fourth was Texas first-year Carson Foster, who improved his lifetime best down to 1:40.99 from 1:41.34, though he remains at #3 on the all-time freshman list.

Fastest Freshmen, Men’s 200 IM (SCY)

  1. Destin Lasco (Cal), 1:40.01 – 2021
  2. Hugo Gonzalez (Auburn), 1:40.67 – 2018
  3. Carson Foster (Texas), 1:40.99 – 2021
  4. Andrew Seliskar (Cal), 1:41.65 – 2016
  5. Ryan Murphy (Cal), 1:42.24 – 2014
  6. Kieran Smith (Florida), 1:42.26 – 2019
  7. Shaine Casas (Texas A&M), 1:42.29 – 2019
  8. David Schlicht (Arizona), 1:42.38 – 2019
  9. Gunnar Bentz (Georgia), 1:42.44 – 2015
  10. David Nolan (Stanford), 1:42.52 – 2012

On the all-time performers list, Gonzalez jumped up from 19th into eighth (also the eighth man to break 1:40), while Lasco improves from 18th to ninth.

All-Time Performers, Men’s 200 IM (SCY)

  1. Caeleb Dressel (Florida), 1:38.13 – 2018
  2. Andrew Seliskar (Cal), 1:38.14 – 2019
  3. Shaine Casas (Texas A&M), 1:38.95 – 2020
  4. Andreas Vazaios (NC State), 1:39.35 – 2019
  5. David Nolan (Stanford), 1:39.38 – 2015
  6. Jan Switkowski (Florida), 1:39.54 – 2018
  7. John Shebat (Texas), 1:39.63 – 2019
  8. Hugo Gonzalez (Cal), 1:39.99 – 2021
  9. Destin Lasco (Cal), 1:40.01 – 2021
  10. Will Licon (Texas), 1:40.04 – 2016

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Slower Than You
3 years ago

I think this guy might be pretty good at swimming.

BearlyBreathing
3 years ago

Who finishes a 200 IM in 23.8?

Captain Obvious
Reply to  BearlyBreathing
3 years ago

Destin Lasco

JetFuel
Reply to  BearlyBreathing
3 years ago

Destin Lasco!

Zanna
Reply to  BearlyBreathing
3 years ago

Didn’t Dressel go 23.7?

PFA
Reply to  Zanna
3 years ago

Right you are.

PFA
3 years ago

Most impressive drop by anyone in the 200 IM since Shane had his massive drop 2 years ago.

Murphy is my dad
Reply to  PFA
3 years ago

His 2im was arguably his best event at one point in high school. His backstrokes have improved so much to the point where his im has almost been overlooked

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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