Shaine Casas qualified second in preliminaries for the 200 back finals at the 2021 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on Saturday in Greensboro, North Carolina.
That’s why they are preliminaries.
Casas , a former McAllen High standout, went on to deliver a magnificent race in the finals, winning his third NCAA Championship for Texas A&M during the nearly week-long event.
Casas’ time of 1 minute, 36.75 seconds was not only a personal best, but it set the Greensboro Aquatic Center pool record of 1:37.19, set earlier in the day by preliminaries time leader, freshman phenom Destin Lasco out of the University of California. Lasco’s time of 1:35.99 placed him second in the 200 back, which ended being a two-man race between him and Casas. Third place was nearly 2.5 seconds slower.
Swimming neck and neck after 150 yards, Casas’ showed his power on the final lap, completing that segment in 22.48 seconds. He won the race by 0.24 seconds. He won the final 50 yards by 0.26 seconds, showing how close the two were after 150 yards.
Casas’ time was also .04 seconds off the NCAA, Meet, American and U.S. Open record of 1:35.73 set by then-future Olympian, and American great Ryan Murphy, also of Cal, and set in 2016. It was the second fastest time in the history of the 200 back.
Casas won the 200 IM on Wednesday in 1:39.53. It was the first NCAA Championship title for Casas and the first men’s individual title in Texas A&M swimming history.
He came back Thursday and captured his second NCAA title of the week, winning the 100 back in 44.20.
“We are thrilled with the win,” A&M head coach Jay Holmes said after Casas won his second title. “For him to get his second win here at the national championship meet is really awesome for him and for this program. He wasn’t too happy with the time, he has been better than that before, but for him to turn it around after swimming three races last night and pick up the win for us was really exciting.”