2025 U.S. World Trials Previews: Shaine Casas At The Forefront Of An Open 50 Backstroke Race

2025 U.S. NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, June 3 – Saturday, June 7, 2025
• Indianapolis, Indiana
• Indiana University Natatorium
• LCM (50 meters)
• World Championship Selection Criteria
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results

Men’s 50 Backstroke – By The Numbers

• World Record: 23.55 – Kliment Kolesnikov, Russia (2023)
• American Record: 23.71 – Hunter Armstrong (2022)
• 2023 U.S. National Champion: Justin Ress – 24.10
• World Aquatics ‘A’ Cut: 25.11

The men’s 50 backstroke at the upcoming 2025 U.S. National Championships neatly fits into the pattern the male events will follow this season. With so many retirements or swimmers simply prioritizing other parts of their lives in the post-Olympic year, there is plenty of opportunity for the next generation of swimmers at this meet—whether that means qualifying for a first World Championship team or making a championship final.

In the 50 backstroke, this opportunity presents itself because names like Hunter Armstrong, Justin Ress, and Ryan Murphy will not be at the championships. Actually, none of the top four finishers from the 2023 U.S. National Championship final—Ress, Armstrong, Wyatt Davis, and Ryan Held—are entered in this event this week. There’s other absences too, neither the 2023 ‘B’ final winner Adam Chaney nor the ‘C’ final winner Owen McDonald are in the field, with Chaney bypassing the meet entirely.

World Championship Experience

Shaine Casas sits comfortably atop the psych sheet. He owns a season-best of 24.23 from the Westmont Pro Series, which gives him a solid advantage on the field and a lifetime best of 24.00 that sets him even further apart.

On paper, Casas is the clear favorite to triumph in this event. But it is not a guarantee that he swims it. Casas is one of the few male Paris Olympians at this meet, and his versatile skillset puts him in position to have a dominant performance. He’s over-entered in the meet and was up front in Fort Lauderdale that (at that time) he was still weighing his options.

Jack Aikins (photo: Jack Spitser)

The 50 backstroke is the final event of day three, which would give him a double with the 100 fly. There are worse doubles in the world but it would also potentially exist at the World Championships as the men’s 100 butterfly final and men’s 50 backstroke semifinals are both on Day 7. Then, he could have a double again on Day 8 with the 50 backstroke final and the men’s 4×00 medley relay. None of this means he won’t try this event, but it will certainly be a consideration as he makes his final decisions.

Michael Andrew could also have a potential double if he swims this event in Indianapolis, as it’s directly after the 50 breaststroke. Andrew is the clear favorite in the 50 breaststroke field by a considerable margin and while he’s at the top of the field in the backstroke, it’s less of a sure thing. It also doesn’t really seem to be where his focus is; he’s raced it a couple of times this season and has a season-best of 25.00 from the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim, but he seems much more locked in on breaststroke as he aims to get back on the senior international roster.

Jack Aikins is another man in this field with senior long-course World Championship experience. Aikins made the trip to Doha for the 2024 World Championships before finishing a heartbreaking third place in both the 100 and 200 backstroke at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials. In many ways, this meet is the perfect opportunity for him to bounce back from that disappointment, but the 50 backstroke is not really the best event for him to do so.

Though he made the championship final in 2023 in this event and has a lifetime best of 24.81, Aikins gets better as the distance gets longer. His in-season racing reflects that focus on the 100/200 backstroke—he hasn’t raced this event individually yet this season. In this field, getting near that lifetime best would likely send him to the championship final, his best chance at Worlds qualification will be in the 100 and 200 backstroke.

2023 U.S Nationals Championship Finalists

Jack Dolan (photo: Jack Spitser)

The two 2023 Championship finalists we haven’t talked about yet are Jack Dolan and Tommy Janton. Dolan is a sprint specialist training at Arizona State since wrapping up his collegiate career with the Sun Devils. His season-best of 25.30 is about a half-second from his lifetime best 24.89. He swam that best at U.S. Nationals two years ago before taking sixth in the final. Not many men in this field have a lifetime best sub-25 seconds, giving him an edge if he himself can get back down below that barrier.

Making the 2023 U.S. Nationals championship final was one step on Janton’s rise through the national ranks, which was happening in both yards and meters. That rise reached a peak at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials with a fourth place finish in the 200 backstroke and an eighth place finish in the 100 backstroke. Things ground to a halt though with the Notre Dame men’s swimming team getting suspended for the 2024-25 NCAA season.

Janton got back in the competition pool at the Westmont Pro Swim and raced again in May at a club meet. So, there are some data points about his form, including his season-best 25.01, but it still feels like there’s a bit of unpredictability when it comes to Janton at this meet. His lifetime best is a 24.84, which puts him near the top of the pack. If he continues on his long-course meters improvement curve from the past two years, he could be fighting for a spot on the Worlds team.

2023 ‘B’ Finalists Aim To Move Up

Quintin McCarty (photo: Jack Spitser)

From there, the psych sheet reads like a who’s who of college swimming. But one name you might be surprised to find at the top of the psych sheet is Quintin McCarty. The Wolfpack have a long legacy of backstroke success but until recently, McCarty has been best known for his sprint freestyle ability. But he really developed his backstroke this season, swimming a lifetime best 44.56 at the NCAA Championships before placing 13^th in the final.

McCarty brought that speed to the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim, swimming two 50 backstroke lifetime bests in one day as he placed second with a 24.45. That makes him the second-fastest American 50 backstroker this season. It was a huge swim for McCarty and if he can hit that time again or better this week, he will likely be on the plane to Singapore.

McCarty placed 7^th in the 2023 U.S. Nationals ‘B’ final, and several of his fellow ‘B’ finalists from two years ago will also be vying for a lane in the final and a spot at the World Championships. The 13^th place finisher two years ago, Will Modglin had an excellent sophomore season in yards at Texas, swimming lifetime bests in all three backstroke distances. He hasn’t had much of a chance to show off in meters yet—his only long-course meet so far is the Longhorn Invite, where he did not race the 50 backstroke. His lifetime best is a 25.11 from the 2023 Indianapolis Sectionals and it seems like a solid bet that he will crack the 25 second barrier this week.

Michigan’s Jack Wilkening is also approaching the 25-second barrier. His best is a 25.05 from the Speedo Summer Championships last July. Wilkening had a strong season at Michigan, swimming lifetime bests of 44.90/1:40.34 in the 100/200-yard backstroke. Like Modglin, he’s only raced on long-course meet this season and did not contest the 50 backstroke there. That leaves his 50 backstroke speed as a question mark heading into this week, but it seems likely he will improve from his 16^th place finish two years ago.

Grant Bochenski also stands to move up from his 11^th place finish. He checked in at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim with a season-best 25.35. That puts him about two-tenths from his lifetime best of 25.11, which he swam in the ‘B’ final of this meet two years ago.

More Names To Consider

Daniel Diehl (photo: Jack Spitser)

Daniel Diehl’s lifetime best also puts him within range of the 25 second mark. Diehl, now training with the Wolfpack, has a lifetime best of 25.22 from the 2023 World Junior Championships. Still, he’s better in the 200 backstroke than he is in the 50, so while he is entered in this race, expect him to be more of a factor as the distance gets bigger. That said, he could be due for a drop in this event, so keep an eye on him.

From there, there’s a lot of college swimmers bringing 25-mid lifetime bests to Indianapolis. That includes names like Marcus Reyes-Gentry (25.57), Joe Hayburn (25.59), and Ben Bricca (25.67) and there’s even more names hovering around 25-high and 26-low. With many of these swimmers not having raced the 50-meter backstroke since 2023, we could see many of them hitting lifetime bests this week.

This race is not as junior-heavy as some of the other events on the men’s side are. But there are still some junior swimmers to watch, most notably Gavin Keogh. A Junior Pan Pac silver medalist in the 200 back, Keogh is headed to NC State this fall. He has a lifetime best of 25.45, which he swam last month at the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim. Another drop could make him an interesting candidate for the final and for one of the international teams being chosen from this meet.

SwimSwam’s Picks

Dark Horse: JT Ewing – JT Ewing is one of several additions that Arizona State has made this offseason, who will arrive in Tempe after starting his college career at NC State. Ewing owns a lifetime best of 25.89, which puts him in line with many of the college kids heading to Indianapolis for this meet. Ewing saw the most success in the 200-yard backstroke this season, but with a three-year old lifetime best in this event, it’s hard not to wonder if he’s due for a drop here.