The Fastest Lacrosse Shot Ever (And Average Speeds by Level)

The fastest lacrosse shot ever officially recorded is 119.9 mph (192.96 km/h), set by Patrick Luehrsen in Libertyville, Illinois, on 29 September 2015 and ratified by Guinness World Records. The other mark everyone cites is Zack Dorn’s 116 mph at the 2014 MLL All-Star Game skills competition — remarkable because Dorn was a fan pulled from the crowd, not a professional. Higher numbers get thrown around in unofficial radar contests, but Luehrsen’s is the one with a verified stamp on it.

For everyone who is not chasing a world record, the more useful question is how fast a normal hard shot travels. Below is the record in context, plus honest speed ranges by level.

The fastest lacrosse shot ever recorded

Guinness recognises Patrick Luehrsen’s 119.9 mph as the fastest lacrosse shot on record. It was set in a controlled attempt with a calibrated radar gun, which is why it stands as the official mark even though it sits just under the 120 mph barrier.

Zack Dorn’s 116 mph in 2014 is the more famous clip, because of the story: Dorn entered a fan skills competition at the Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game and out-gunned professionals. His shot was widely reported as a record at the time and still circulates as one of the sport’s great highlights.

You will also see claims of shots at 123 or even 127 mph from private radar sessions in later years. Treat those with caution — they were not run under Guinness conditions and have not been ratified, so they belong in the “impressive but unofficial” column rather than the record books.

Average lacrosse shot speed by level

Record shots are outliers. Here is roughly what a hard shot looks like as players move up the levels. These are commonly cited ranges rather than lab figures, but they match what radar guns show at skills events and combines:

Level	Typical hard shot	Elite shooters
Youth (age 10–12)	40–50 mph	55+ mph
Middle school (13–14)	50–65 mph	70 mph
High school varsity	70–80 mph	90 mph
NCAA Division I men	90–95 mph	100+ mph
Professional (PLL)	90–100 mph	110+ mph in contests

Two things jump out. First, the biggest leap happens between middle school and varsity, as players learn to load the stick and drive with their hips instead of arming the ball. Second, the gap between a good college shooter and a world-record attempt is smaller than you might think — maybe 25 mph — because the mechanics top out and technique, not brute strength, does most of the work.

How fast do D1 and pro players shoot?

Top Division I men’s players sit in the low-to-mid 90s on a running, time-and-room shot, and the hardest of them touch 100 mph. In the Premier Lacrosse League, the same is true — the fastest shooters live around 100 mph, and skills-competition radar numbers climb higher when a player gets a clean, unopposed wind-up.

The catch is that game shots are almost always slower than a player’s max. With a goalie set and defenders closing, deception and placement beat raw pace. A 95 mph rocket into the keeper’s chest is worth less than an 80 mph shot into the corner. The players putting up the most goals — many of them on our highest-paid lacrosse players list — win with release speed and accuracy, not just velocity.

What makes a lacrosse shot fast

Shot speed comes from a chain of small things done well, not from arm strength alone:

• Whole-body sequence — driving with the legs and hips, then torso, then arms, whip-cracking the stick head last.
• Stick load — bending the shaft and letting it spring, which is why flex and materials matter when you pick a stick.
• A crank of the bottom hand — the top hand guides, the bottom hand snaps the shot through.
• Foot plant and momentum — running into the shot adds free speed over a standing crank.

If you are starting out, the gear helps but the mechanics matter far more. Our best lacrosse sticks for beginners rundown covers what actually affects a young player’s shot, and the fundamentals in our lacrosse drills for beginners build the sequence that turns a 45 mph shove into a genuine shot.

Where the record goes from here

Nobody has beaten Luehrsen’s ratified 119.9 mph in an official Guinness attempt, though unofficial radar guns keep inching past it. The likely ceiling is human, not technological — shaft technology has been strong for years, and the limiting factor is how fast a person can rotate through the shooting motion. If the barrier falls, expect it at a staged skills competition rather than in a live game, because no one shoots their absolute hardest with a defender in their hands. For a sense of who might one day take a swing at it, our greatest lacrosse players feature is the place to start.