NCAA Men’s Championships, Day 4 Prelims: Destin Lasco Chasing 200 Back Four-Peat
California fifth-year Destin Lasco has a chance to do something special at the NCAA Championships Saturday night. He’s going to have a heck of a lot of competition to get there.
Lasco is chasing a fourth straight title in the men’s 200 backstroke. He holds the NCAA and American records, set last year at 1:35.37. He was also second as a freshman way back in 2021.
He faces daunting competition for another crown. Hubert Kos, the World and Olympic champion over 200 meters, is in fine form, having won the 200 individual medley and 100 back this week. Florida’s Johnny Marshall, second in the 100 back in the second-fastest time ever, is seeded second in the 200 back.
Saturday’s final session at the Weyerhauser King County Aquatic Center will also include the 1650 freestyle, platform diving and the concluding 400 freestyle relay. Team scores entering the final day:
Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 14 1. Texas 368 2. California 312.5 3. Indiana 304 4. Florida 233 5. Georgia 177.5 6. Arizona St 172 7. Tennessee 162.5 8. Stanford 162 9. NC State 128 10. Michigan 83 11. Alabama 68 11. Ohio St 68 13. Virginia Tech 63 14. Texas A&M 57.5 15. Southern Cal 55 16. Louisville 53 17. Florida St 48 18. Purdue 33 19. Wisconsin 28 20. Lsu 26 21. Georgia Tech 24 22. UNC 21 23. Army 15 23. Yale 15 23. University of Utah 15 26. Auburn 14 27. Pittsburgh 13 28. Virginia 12 28. Smu 12 30. Miami (Fl) 11 30. Brown 11 32. Missouri 6 32. Kentucky 6 34. Arizona 1
200 backstroke
Destin Lasco is the second seed in the 200 backstroke, with a time of 1:36.40. Hubert Kos set the pace in prelims in 1:36.08, defending his standing as the fastest in-season swimmer.
Lasco will have teammates in the A final. Gabriel Jett went 1:36.69 for third. Mewen Tomac jumped from 23rd seed to fifth in 1:37.26. The Golden Bears also have Keaton Jones in 11th (up from 19th seed) and Humberto Najera 12th (up from 32nd).
Ruard van Renan of Georgia orchestrated a big drop to 1:37.08 for the fourth seed. Owen McDonald gives Indiana an A finalist in sixth. Texas has two, with Will Modglin’s 1:38.04 edging Johnny Marshall by .03 to win a slow fourth heat of five. Both are in the A final.
There is a three-way swim-off for 16th place, between Kyle Peck of Texas, Cornelius Jahn of Ohio State and Stanford’s Josh Zuchowski. Only one advances.
Event 16 Men 200 Yard Backstroke
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NCAA: N 1:35.37 3/30/2024 Destin Lasco, California
Meet: M 1:35.37 3/30/2024 Destin Lasco, California
American: A 1:35.37 3/30/2024 Destin Lasco, California
U. S. Open: O 1:35.37 3/30/2024 Destin Lasco, California
Name Year School Seed Prelims
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=== Preliminaries ===
1 Kos, Hubert JR Texas 1:35.72 1:36.08
r:+0.74 22.50 47.49 (24.99)
1:11.97 (24.48) 1:36.08 (24.11)
2 Lasco, Destin 5Y California 1:38.21 1:36.40
r:+0.73 23.04 47.42 (24.38)
1:12.04 (24.62) 1:36.40 (24.36)
3 Jett, Gabriel SR California 1:37.19 1:36.69
r:+0.72 23.40 47.74 (24.34)
1:12.24 (24.50) 1:36.69 (24.45)
4 Van Renen, Ruard JR Georgia 1:39.92 1:37.08
r:+0.54 22.69 47.44 (24.75)
1:12.10 (24.66) 1:37.08 (24.98)
5 Tomac, Mewen 5Y California 1:39.99 1:37.26
r:+0.57 22.62 47.07 (24.45)
1:12.12 (25.05) 1:37.26 (25.14)
6 McDonald, Owen JR Indiana 1:37.15 1:37.67
r:+0.65 22.72 47.27 (24.55)
1:12.46 (25.19) 1:37.67 (25.21)
7 Modglin, Will SO Texas 1:37.84 1:38.04
r:+0.66 22.75 47.30 (24.55)
1:12.52 (25.22) 1:38.04 (25.52)
8 Marshall, Jonny SO Florida 1:35.85 1:38.07
r:+0.84 22.13 46.92 (24.79)
1:12.06 (25.14) 1:38.07 (26.01)
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9 Van Westering, Kai JR Indiana 1:39.24 1:38.62
r:+0.69 23.02 47.51 (24.49)
1:12.87 (25.36) 1:38.62 (25.75)
10 Sequeira, Aaron SR Stanford 1:39.54 1:39.14
r:+0.73 23.17 47.99 (24.82)
1:13.49 (25.50) 1:39.14 (25.65)
11 Jones, Keaton SO California 1:39.76 1:39.25
r:+0.80 23.65 48.55 (24.90)
1:13.99 (25.44) 1:39.25 (25.26)
12 Najera, Humberto SO California 1:40.49 1:39.30
r:+0.65 23.68 48.56 (24.88)
1:14.16 (25.60) 1:39.30 (25.14)
13 Ubertalli, Pietro JR Cornell 1:38.99 1:39.36
r:+0.70 23.58 48.30 (24.72)
1:13.39 (25.09) 1:39.36 (25.97)
14 Diehl, Daniel SO NC State 1:39.62 1:39.39
r:+0.76 23.66 49.01 (25.35)
1:14.13 (25.12) 1:39.39 (25.26)
15 Hagar, Tommy SO Alabama 1:39.77 1:39.43
r:+0.75 23.52 48.92 (25.40)
1:14.12 (25.20) 1:39.43 (25.31)
16 Jahn, Cornelius FR OSU 1:39.50 1:39.61
r:+0.73 23.80 49.15 (25.35)
1:14.47 (25.32) 1:39.61 (25.14)
16 Peck, Kyle FR Texas 1:39.36 1:39.61
r:+0.63 23.02 48.09 (25.07)
1:13.44 (25.35) 1:39.61 (26.17)
16 Zuchowski, Josh JR Stanford 1:39.71 1:39.61
r:+0.70 23.56 48.84 (25.28)
1:14.74 (25.90) 1:39.61 (24.87)
100 freestyle
200 breaststroke
200 butterfly
