Former McAllen High and Texas A&M standout swimmer Shaine Casas won his first international Former McAllen High and Texas A&M standout swimmer Shaine Casas won his first international gold medal Friday during the second evening of the Short Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi.
Casas is swimming for Team USA and his 100-meter backstroke championship came one day after winning a bronze medal as part of Team USA’s 400 free relay Thursday.
A three-time NCAA champion, Casas tied with Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov in the semifinals. Kolesnikov was the Olympic silver medalist. Casas narrowly missed out on an Olympic bid in the same event earlier this year, finishing third. However, he was quickly added to Team USA to represent the team internationally.
Casas exploded, as one report stated, “like a rocket” at the start and halfway through he was .16 seconds faster than the world-record pace. His 23.29 time for the first half was also 0.14 ahead of Kolesnikov. While Casas slowed down the stretch, he still maintained that advantage over second place and won in 49.23 seconds, 0.23 ahead of Kolesnikov.
According to Swimming World, Casas has still been training at A&M under the Aggies coaches through the fall, despite announcing in September he would transfer to the Texas and then turn pro. However, “his future training plans are unknown — but the implication was clear (Friday): the 21-year-old Casas was fully focused on achieving success at the international level.”
Casas still has to swim in the 50 back today and Sunday, the 200 back Tuesday and possibly three more American medley relays.
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