By: Georgia Kaufman 

Opinion Editor

If junior Diego Lasso could describe himself in five words, they would be thoughtful, creative, athletic, and not funny. Whether he is flying down Lexington Reservoir for the Los Gatos Rowing Club’s (LGRC) Varsity Men’s team or overachieving in any of his five AP/honors classes, one can always expect to evoke dry humor and spunk out of Lasso during a conversation.

The junior joined LGRC’s Novice Men’s team as a freshman during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lasso claimed that he “was not originally going to stick to rowing, but after novice year [he] decided to try another year — this time on Varsity — and [he] decided to stick to it.” To be quite frank, Lasso made a great decision, as his rowing successes grew exponentially after joining the Varsity team.

Lasso made a lasting impression at the beginning of his Varsity career when he “beat [his] older brother, Alberto Lasso’s sophomore year PR (personal record).” After that, Lasso was placed in an under-17 age category four-person boat (with coxswain [labeled 4+]) during the LGRC Spring season. Lasso and his four other boatmates — including Los Gatos junior Taj Chunawala as the coxswain — made it through Southwest regionals on Lake Natoma, which then qualified them for the 2022 Youth National Championships (YNC) in Sarasota, Florida.

Lasso admitted, “Before we left for Florida, we were probably training twice a day, having one practice before school starting around 6:00 AM, and one after school starting at 3:30 and ending at 6:15.” The extra practices quickly paid off because Lasso and his four teammates placed first in their U17 4+ category at YNC.

Pondering the final race he rowed in Florida, Lasso lamented, “It was painful. My crew and I never pushed ourselves that hard. After we finished the race it was a good feeling, but overall I was just feeling really dehydrated.”

When asked about his future with the sport, Lasso explained that he “will only stay in it if it helps him with college, but [his] main purpose of rowing right now is to stay fit and have something to do every day.”

While practically a five-star athlete for rowing, Lasso also excels in academics. His five advanced courses include AP Spanish, AP Psychology, AP US History, AP Language and Composition, and Trig/Precalc Honors. Lasso even took an online course for Algebra 2, just so he could take an honors math course this year — proving his dedication to academics

Lasso proves himself as an outstanding and overachieving student athlete, even as a middle child. Although the aforementioned ‘spunk’ introduces itself with him far into a conversation, you can always trust Lasso to bring up food.