Shaine Casas Swims 1:42.96 200 IM at Art Adamson Invitational
One year after Shaine Casas broke out during his junior season at Texas A&M, he is no longer a member of the Aggies’ swim team after he revealed plans to move to Austin and swim in the University of Texas pro group under legendary coach Eddie Reese. However, Casas is still around the pool in College Station, and he made an appearance at Texas A&M’s annual mid-season Art Adamson Invitational. He competed in Wednesday’s prelims in the 200 IM and 50 free as an unattached exhibition swimmer.
Casas put up a 1:42.96 in the 200 IM, about four seconds off his lifetime best of 1:38.95 from last year. Casas ranks third all-time in the short course yards version of the event behind Caeleb Dressel and Andrew Seliskar, and he led wire-to-wire in the race to win last year’s NCAA title in the event. Casas also won both backstroke events at those NCAA Championships, and we’ll see if he makes an appearance in those events over the course of the week.
Casas’ 200 IM time is much quicker than any time recorded so far this NCAA season, although there will likely be more quick times posted across the country during the slate of college invitationals over the next few weeks. Casas also hopped in for the 50 free Wednesday, and he swam a time of 19.51. As an exhibition swimmer, he was not eligible to compete in the final.
Following his remarkable college season, Casas had a disappointing Olympic Trials, finishing third in the 100 back behind Ryan Murphy and Hunter Armstrong, and missing the Olympics by just 0.28. He also finished sixth in the 200 back in a time almost two seconds slower than his lifetime best.
But now, Casas has turned his attention squarely to international swimming after giving up his final year of college eligibility. Casas will make his senior international debut for the United States at next month’s Short Course World Championships, where he will compete in all three backstroke events, and he will be in the running for a spot on the 2022 U.S. World Championships team in April.