Shaine Casas Makes Texas Debut At 2022 Eddie Reese Invite

Each season, Eddie Reese and the University of Texas host the famous “Eddie Reese Invite.” The Longhorn men will suit up and compete in an intrasquad meet that features both pros and members of the varsity team.

The invite consists of off-distance events that allow athletes to get out of their comfort zones and race without too many expectations. The events are odd, but Eddie likes them that way.

The Eddie Reese Invite usually follows this event format:

• 600 IM / 600 free
• 300 stroke
• 2000 free
• 300 IM / 300 free
• 150 stroke / 150 free
• 50’s

Typically, the Eddie Reese Invite is held in October, which is Texas’ big training month, also known as “Rocktober.”

“We had to substitute, as our Ohio State/Kentucky meet for this weekend was canceled,” said Reese.

Instead of traveling to Columbus, the Texas opted to throw some tech suits on and race each other at the Lee and Joe Jamail Swim Center.

One thing was for certain, and that was that Shaine Casas was ready to throw down with the UT men.

“Shaine Casas is a monster,” stated Reese via text message.

Casas raced three events at the Eddie Reese Invite, which were the 150 fly (1:12.0), 150 back (1:11.0), and the 50 free (19.28).

What do these times mean? At the 2019 Eddie Reese Invite, Alvin Jiang won the 150 fly in a 1:14.83. Casas was over 2.5 seconds faster than this, getting his hand to the wall in 1:12.0. When Jack Conger (Texas) set the NCAA/American record during the 2016 NCAA Season, he was out in 1:11.19, so Casas raced a 150 fly that was slightly over American Record pace. Casas’ best time in the 200 fly is a 1:38.69 from the 2021 American Short Course Championships in March.

Casas’ back, however, was arguably more impressive. For reference, when Casas won the 200 back (1:35.75), which stands as the 2nd-fastest performance in history, he was out in 1:11.53. When Ryan Murphy (Cal) set the NCAA/American Record in the 200 back during the 2016 NCAA Season, he was out in a blistering 1:10.86. At 1:11.0, Casas basically swam a 150 that was under his 150 split from NCAAs, and just under the American Record pace. Notably, Casas split faster on his final 50 in the 200 (24.22) compared to Murphy’s 24.87.

Casas was just off his personal best in the 50 (19.02) which he achieved when he led off Texas A&M’s 5th-place 200 free relay at NCAAs.

Eddie also highlighted the men’s distance swimmers. Freshman Luke Hobson blasted a 5:07.2 in the 600 free. For reference, Hobson won the 500 free at the Minnesota Invite last month in a 4:09.72, which is also currently the top time in the nation.

Sophomore David Johnston unloaded a 17:50.1 in the 2000 free, the longest event of the Eddie Reese Invite. While we don’t have splits, Johnston was only about 6 seconds off Clark Smith‘s legendary 2000 free from 2015. There, Smith negative split his 2000, splitting 8:52/8:51 by 1000’s. In 2014, Michael McBroom, the current American Record Holder in the 800 SCM free, was 17:49 in the 2000.

The 300’s were highlighted sophomores Coby Carrozza and Carson Foster. Both Carrozza and Foster were faster than the previous champions from the 2019 Eddie Reese Invite. Carrozza was 2:25.8 in the 300 free, while Foster posted an equally-impressive 2:40.3 in the 300 fly.

In 2019, Drew Kibler won the 300 free in 2019, he was 2:27.62, while Sam Pomajevich won the 300 fly in with a 2:42.16.

The over-distance events provided insight that there’s more in the tank for their 200’s. Carrozza’s best time in the 200 free is a 1:32.70 from last year’s NCAA Championships, while Foster’s best 200 fly time is a 1:43.06 from last year’s dual meet with SMU.

The 150 free featured an absolute dogfight between Foster, Kibler, and Daniel Krueger, who all finished within less than a second of each other. It was Kibler who got his hand to the wall first in 1:07.6, followed by Foster (1:08.2) and Krueger (1:08.4).

These times are slightly underwhelming, with Reese even mentioning that “the sprinters are in trouble.” Kibler’s been out as fast as 1:06.4 when he split 1:30.5 in the men’s 800 free relay at NCAAs, so his time from last weekend was over a second slower than his pace. The 150 seems to be a hard event to race well at the invite, as Maxime Rooney won the event in 2019 and was only 1:08.1.

In the 150 breast, Dutch Olympian Caspar Corbeau won the event in 1:21.8, almost 5 seconds ahead of the entire field. Corbeau won the same event in 2019 with a 1:24.33. Last month, Corbeau put up a 1:50.8 in the 200 breast at the Minnesota Invite, which was at the time the fastest time in the nation, now ranks #2, and is his personal best time. Corbeau is also an elite-level 200 breaststroker in Long Course, boasting a personal best time of 2:08.57 that earned him a spot on the Netherland’s Olympic Team.

Texas will host TCU on Friday (January 21st) and Saturday (January 22nd).