Bear Insider Video: Cal Swimmers Destin Lasco, Jack Alexy & Keaton Jones
The Cal men’s swimming program has a long legacy of greatness, earning eight NCAA men's swimming team titles in 1979, 1980, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2019, 2022 and 2023 and either winning a national championship or finishing as runner-up every season since 2011, including three of the past four and two straight national championships, all under head coach Dave Durden. Durden also served as the Team USA Head Coach for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Some of the key performers in the recent run of success are senior Destin Lasco and junior Jack Alexy and frosh Keaton Jones is poised to help add to that success as the team heads into this week’s Pac-12 championships.
It’s not lost on Jones that he’s joining an incredibly successful legacy after coming to Cal from Higley High School in Chandler, Arizona as the #9 rated overall swimmer by SwimSwam as a backstroke specialist.
"I just want to come in and try - and I think the whole freshman class - we want to try and do what we can I help," Jones said. "We just got here. They are 2-time defending national champions, but we haven't done anything with the team yet. So we're just trying to do as much as we can and try and give back to the program that believed in us like to recruit us here and do all that."
Lasco and Alexy are part of the Bears’ New Jersey contingent and have been competing since their young teen years in the pool.
Lasco has piled up accolades since his arrival at Cal, earning Pac-12 Freshman Swimmer of the Year along with 7 Pac-12 championships, 4 National Championships and earning All-American honors in 18 strokes in his four seasons at Cal in the 100 and 200 back and free and medley relays. Alexy has seen plenty of success as a Bear as well, earning 4 Pac-12 championships in the 200 and 400 free relays in back-to-back seasons and 7 All-American honors in the 50 and 100 free and free and medley relays.
Both were on each other’s radars at a young age.
"Yeah, definitely," Alexei said. "I think the first time I heard about Destin was at Eastern Zones when I was either 11 or 12. Everyone was running around the pool deck, asking for Destin's autograph when I was around 13 years old. But since then, we competed in a number of high school meets. He used to kick my butt in freestyle events. And it's been great having him as a training partner here at Cal."
"Yeah, I started racing him - I didn't know about him when we were younger but in high school, it was like the first time I raced him in the 100 free and he chased after my high school record. And he's somebody that I believed as soon as he came out for his official visit, I knew he was somebody that could add value, not only to the team, but outside of the team as well and in the classroom. So it's been a great fit. So I'm really glad that we can continue the Jersey Boys team legacy from the East Coast."
Alexy and Lasco aren’t the only Jersey boys on the team, including Alexy’s younger brother Rob.
"We've also got Dare Rose, Roman Jones and more coming In the next few years," Alexy said.
Jones came to the Cal program from Arizona coming with the unique experience of competing in the Ice Swimming World Championships in Samoens, France where he became the first American to break an ice swimming world record.
"Yeah, my club coach got me into it," Jones said. "He was kind of the U.S. committee person who put together the team to go over to France. It was kind of just something new I wanted to try. I didn't do much training for it. But I mean, swimming is swimming, even though it's a little colder. But it was super fun. I missed Nationals this year because I was kind of focusing on the school side. But there's Worlds in Italy next summer so I might do that."
The women’s swimming program is in rebuild mode after the ouster of controversial women’s coach Teri McKeever but the program is making strides under Durden and his staff, winning the 2024 Pac-12 Championships by over 100 points last week and putting together what’s considered by many the best-ever women’s recruiting class for 2025. The men are inspired by the achievements of their female counterparts.
"Yeah, for sure," Lasco said. "When we started, it was definitely a big learning curve for both of us because Dave was learning how to run a combined program. And bringing in the right coaching staff in order to run a combined program so that was a huge learning curve for all of us. And now seeing the women's team just doing what they're doing right now is just absolutely amazing. And it's inspiring because they're bringing the heat and setting the bar pretty high for our guys next week."
It was particularly meaningful for the women to win the final Pac-12 Championship in history and the departure’s significance is not lost on the Cal trio.
“Yeah, I think the Pac-12 Conference has a long-lasting legacy even though this is the last year," Alexy said. "There's been so many different athletes across all those sports that have represented their colleges really well. And I'm although I am sorry that we're leaving the Pac-12, I'm really excited that we're joining the ACC next year. That opens up a whole new chapter for us."
Even though he’s one of the younger members in the program, Jones has had his taste of success, even beating Cal Olympic legend Ryan Murphy in the 200m backstroke at the TYR Pro Swim Series last May, though they were at different phases of their training and competition cycles.
"It was super cool," Jones said. "I'm not sure it was an even playing field. We were in a little bit different parts of our season. I think I was coming down and I think he was still hitting it pretty hard but it was a cool experience. I hadn't done a ton of racing. I mean, I've raced these guys a lot and I think I'd been in a few finals with them before. But it felt good to race him. And actually, it was a nice little stepping stone to coming and training with these guys every day. Coming in feeling good that I can keep up with them a little bit."
The Cal men’s swimming Olympic legacy has been strong, particularly since Matt Biondi dominated the pool in 1988 with 5 gold medals along with a silver and bronze while earning medals in three consecutive Olympics. The legacy continued with the dominance of freestylers Anthony Ervin and Nathan Adrian as well as backstroker Ryan Murphy. That legacy made an impact on Lasco, Alexy and Jones in putting the Cal program on their radars.
"Yeah, for me, that was one of the main things that impacted my decision to come to Cal," Alexy said. "I think it just really shows how long-lasting the Cal legacy is the past few decades, not only through the 80s and 90s with Biondi but also how Coach Durden's really adopted the program and really helped it excel for the past about 15 years. And if you look at all the Olympic teams over the past few decades, Cal has played a major part in each one of those teams' successes, and I'm just really excited that we have the opportunity to continue that legacy here.
"Specifically, those guys are really mentors to me and role models because I'm a sprint freestyler," Alexy noted of Ervin and Adrian. "And they have extended the legacy for freestyle at Cal. I had the pleasure of meeting them, racing Nathan a little bit, and they're great athletes and great people.
The Bears have a solid contingent of Olympic hopefuls coming up this season.
"You're talking to some of them right here," Lasco said. "And then we also have the people who aren't from the United States like Bjorn Seeliger (free/fly/back) and Robin Hanson (free/fly/IM) for Sweden and Ziyad Saleem (back) who represents Sudan. So it's just great because we're all chasing the same thing and we're all moving towards the same goal, to represent our country at the Olympics. And it's great doing it with a bunch of people who are passionate about it.”
Besides Lasco in the 100 and 200 free and 200 back and Alexy in the 50 and 100 free, other Olympic hopefuls are Dare Rose in the 100 fly and Gabe Jett in the 200 free and 200 fly along with the previously mentioned international competitors as well as Cal grad Ryan Murphy in the 100 and 200 back along with Cal women’s swimmer Abby Weitzeil - who swam for the Bears from 2016 to 2020 - in the 50 and 100 free. Weitzeil won a gold medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay for swimming in the preliminary heats and a silver medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay at the 2016 Rio Olympics and in the 2020 Summer Olympics, won a silver medal in the 4x100-meter medley relay and a bronze medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
Heading into the Pac-12 championships, the women’s victory last weekend has inspired the men as they set out to take on rival ASU starting today through Saturday at Pac-12s, though Lasco, Alexy, Rose and Jett will miss the finals to compete in the TYR Pro Championship, a long-course event in Westmont, IL to better prepare for NCAAs and the Olympics and Bjorn Seeliger will be home training as well.
"They did set the bar high," Lasco said of the Cal women last week. "But I think what helped us with the 2-peat is we always act like we were never national champions before this. You're always hungry. Always stay hungry. Because when you have a target on your back, everybody wants to take a shot at you, no matter what. So it's just all about being grounded and not letting that get to your head and being aggressive as if you haven't won a national championship."