2020 Art Adamson Invite Day 1 Prelims: Casas Cruises 1:42 200 IM to Lead Field

2020 Art Adamson Invite

• Wednesday, November 18-Friday, November 20
• Teams: Texas A&M, LSU, Incarnate Word
• Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
• Prelims/Finals
• Format: Short Course Yards (SCY)
• Prelims @10AM Central, Finals @6PM Central
• 2021 NCAA Championship Qualifying Times
• Results Available on Meet Mobile: “Art Adamson Invitational”
• Live Results

Texas A&M’s Shaine Casas cruised in as the top-qualifier in the men’s 200 IM, posting a 1:42.24 to take the top seed by over three seconds. The swim for Casas is neither a season-best nor a lifetime best, so we can expect more of him in the finals tonight. Last month at the Texas First Chance Invite, Casas posted a nation-leading time of 1:40.52 in the 200 IM and has a lifetime best of 1:39.91 from the 2020 SEC Championships in February. This was Casas’ only swim of the morning, though we should also expect to see him on either or both of A&M’s relays in finals. The relays tonight are the 200 freestyle relay and 400 medley relay. Casas, who is currently the fastest in the NCAA in the 100 backstroke with a 44.40 from October, will likely lead-off for the Aggies tonight. We might expect to see Casas sub-1:40 again in finals as he recently broke 1:40 in the 200 yard butterfly and also PB’d in the 200 backstroke (1:36.54) just over 4 weeks ago.

Qualifying behind Casas was A&M teammate Kaloyan Bratanov in 1:45.54, about a second and a half off his lifetime best. A&M freshman Vincent Ribeiro qualified third with a 1:45.83 which improves upon his previous lifetime best by a full second. Casas, Bratanov, and Ribeiro all came in under the NCAA ‘B’ time standard, though Casas had achieved the ‘A’ cut a month ago. Barring any scratches, the men’s ‘A’ final in the 200 IM tonight will consist of seven Aggie swimmers and one from LSU, Emil Hassling, who qualified eighth in 1:49.23.

Texas A&M freshman Chloe Stepanek leads the way in both the women’s 500 freestyle and 50 freestyle after this morning’s prelims session. Stepanek posted a 4:43.87 in the 500, a 4.75-second improvement from her previous lifetime best set in November of 2019, and a 22.38 in the 50 which knocked a massive 0.49 from her previous PR of 22.87 set in November 2019. Both swims are NCAA ‘B’ cuts for Stepanek.

Texas A&M senior Haley Yelle nabbed the second position going into tonight’s 500 free final with a 4:45.19, also an NCAA ‘B’ time, though Yelle’s lifetime best sits at 4:37.92 from the 2020 SEC Championships in February, meaning she probably has more in the tank for finals. The only other woman to come in under 4:50 in prelims was Texas A&M senior Camryn Toney who posted a 4:49.18 to shave a quarter-second from her previous lifetime best set way back in 2016 at the Winter Junior Championships, which took place in this very pool.

Texas A&M takes six of the top eight spots going into tonight’s ‘A’ final in the women’s 500 freestyle, though Incarnate Word’s Ximena Conde shaved 1.2 seconds from her lifetime best, finishing in 4:51.72, to grab the 4th position going into tonight’s finals. LSU freshman Jess Pryne secured herself the 8th seed in this evening’s finals with a 4:56.97, though Pryne was more than 6 seconds off her lifetime best. Caroline Theil took a massive 13.5 seconds off her previous lifetime best, set way back in 2014 when she was only 14-years-old, posting a 4:52.76 to secure herself the 7th position in finals. While Theil is overall a well-rounded swimmer, she has mostly specialized in breaststroke and IM during her collegiate career and is an Olympic Trials qualifier in the 200 and 400 LCM IMs.

Mark Theall dominated the prelims of the men’s 500 freestyle with a 4:14.54 which is nearly 9 seconds under the NCAA ‘B’ cut and less than 3 seconds off the NCAA ‘A’ cut, though nearly 4 seconds removed from Theall’s best time of 4:10.77 from the 2020 SEC Championships. Aggie teammate Luke Stuart posted a 4:22.82 to secure lane 5 in the finals of the men’s 500 tonight, also slipping under the NCAA ‘B’ cut time.

Like on the women’s side, the Texas A&M men will hold 6 of 8 lanes in the ‘A’ final this evening, though they will be joined by Brooks Curry and Isak Vikstrom from LSU. For Curry, this registers as a 27-second drop; Curry’s former best time was a 4:51. posted when he was 17-years-old at the 2017 Metro Georgia Divisional Championships. Curry is better known as a 50, 100, and 200 yard freestyler and has Olympic Trials cuts in the 50 and 100 in LCM.

LSU’s Summer Stanfield shaved extactly one second from her lifetime best in the 200 IM to take the top seed in the ‘A’ final in 1:58.93, though she will receive stiff competition from Texas A&M’s Jing Quah who posted a 1:59.45, though Quah has been as fast as 1:56.17, put up at the 2020 SEC Championships in February. This appears to be just the second time Quah has swum the 200 IM this season and is over two seconds faster than her previous effort from October 30th. Both Stanfield and Quah touched under the NCAA ‘B’ cut this morning.

A&M’s Toney, after swimming the 500 earlier in the session, registered the third-fastest time of the morning with a 2:00.32, also well off her best time (1:57.76) but a season-best by over 5 seconds, granted both she and Quah–and likely every other swimmer competing this weekend–have only had three opportunities to compete in sanctioned SCY competitions this fall.

The women’s 200 IM ‘A’ final, again A&M heavy, will feature five Aggie and three LSU swimmers. Qualifying for the ‘B’ final and achieving noteworthy time drops are Incarnate Word’s Conde who shaved two seconds from her previous PR to finish 9th in 2:03.90, and A&M’s Oda Borgstroem and Sarah Szklurak-Traipe who dropped 2.79 and 1.40 seconds, respectively, qualifying 11th and 12th in 2:06.39 and 2:06.87, respectively.

The final of the women’s 50 freestyle will be split between four swimmers from Texas A&M, three from LSU, and one from Incarnate Word. Cassie Phillips, the lone representative for Incarnate Word the the 4th qualifier tonight, dropped 0.49 from her previous lifetime best to nearly crack the 23-second barrier, hitting the wall in 23.10, tying for the 4th-seed in the ‘A’ final with LSU’s Olivia Taylor who added just slightly (0.12) to her best time.

Three men swam under 20 seconds in the prelims of the 50 free. Leading the way is Tanner Olson of A&M with a 19.57, which registers as a solid 0.34 improvement upon his previous PR. Bratanov, having put up the second-fastest time in the 200 IM earlier, was also second in the 50 this morning with a 19.77, a 0.01 improvement upon his previous best time from this meet in 2019. Brooks Curry put up a 19.91 to qualify third, swimming a full 0.61 off his lifetime best from February, though Curry also swam the 500 this morning where he also posted the third-fastest time. All three top qualifiers were under the NCAA ‘B’ cut. A&M’s Clayton Bobo qualified 4th in the 50 with a 20.08, though this is fully 0.41 slower than his lifetime best. Barring any scratches, A&M will occupy 6 of the 8 lanes in tonight’s ‘A’ final of the men’s 50 free.