BY NATHANIEL MATA | SPECIAL TO THE MONITOR
McAllen High junior Shaine Casas finished second in both the 200 yard Individual Medley and 100 butterfly preliminaties during the first day of competition at the UIL state meet Friday in Austin. He will be the second seed in the two races tomorrow during the UIL 6A state finals.
Casas was the Rio Grande Valley’s brightest star on Day 1, which saw many Valley hopefuls miss the cut from 24 to 16 finalists.
In the 200 IM, Casas finished in 1:48.65, edged out by Austin Westlake’s Matthew Willenbring’s 1:48.25.
With the race’s top four swimmers finishing within a second of each other, McHi coach Jared Kaminski said that the result may come down to who can dig the deepest.
“In a race as fast as these kids are going, it hurts,” Kaminski said. “It’s a physical hurt. Your legs hurt. Your lungs are on fire. Whoever is willing to suffer through that the most usually wins, because that means they’re pushing the hardest.”
The coach, who spoke over the phone from Austin, said the final leg will separate who wants the gold.
“Tomorrow, it’s just going to come down to the 50 sprint of who wants it more,” Kaminski said. “It’s more of fix your little things, do exactly what you did today, and in that last 50 just turn the jets on and go.”
Casas’ preliminary time was almost more than 2 seconds better than his regional finish. At the District 30-6A meet in January, Casas explained that the season is designed to build up to the fastest times at the State meet.
“With the swimmer, it’s more of them just remaining calm and trusting themselves,” Kaminski said. “All the hard work and the physical side of the training… how fast they’re going to be, that’s been done August through December. The point now is who mentally can handle it.”
Casas will also swim in the final for the boys 100 butterfly, seeded second. He finished in 48.45, behind Southlake Carroll’s Jack LeVant (47.86). The McAllen High swimmer will likely need to drop below 48 seconds to upset the defending state champion in the butterfly final.
Casas is looking to capture state gold for the first time in his high school career. He finished third in the 100 backstroke during last year’s state meet.
McAllen’s 400 and 200 freestyle relays also qualified for the second day of heats. Casas is a member of both teams.
The 200 freestyle relay of Casas, Max Saenz, Thomas Wilkins and Michael Moore finished in 14th place. The 400 relay, which includes the same swimmers, finished 16th, locking up the final qualifying spot for the second day.
In 5A, Sharyland High’s Luciano Farias-Ramirez qualified for Day 2 in the 100 butterfly. He finished in 15th place, with a 52.57. He did not move on in the 100 backstroke.