Casas’ 1:57.7 200m Back Highlights Art Adamson Invite Day 3 Prelims

2019 ART ADAMSON INVITE

• Thursday, November 21 – Saturday, November 23, 2019
• Texas A&M Natatorium, College Station, Texas
• Prelims 10 AM / Finals 6 PM (U.S. Central Time)
• Prelims Long Course Meters (LCM) format
• Finals Short Course Yards (SCY) format
• Live results

Shaine Casas has been the story of this meet, and he put up another great swim this morning during the last prelims session of the weekend here in College Station.

Leading the way during long course prelims in the 200 back, Casas posted a 1:57.70, the only finisher under two minutes. This is his ninth time under the two-minute mark, and it’s his fourth-best outing ever; his lifetime best is a 1:55.79 from Nationals this past summer, and he’s been 1:57-low twice, also from this past summer. He has been destroying his personal bests all weekend, and tonight in yards, his time to beat will be a 1:39.84 from the 2019 SEC Championships.

See Casas’ swim in lane four:

Casas now ranks fourth in the world this season.

Stanford sophomore Zoe Bartel had a huge swim in the women’s 200 breast, clocking a 2:26.78 to come less than a second off of Breeja Larson’s pool record. Nobody else went under 2:29, with Texas A&M’s Anna Belousova second at 2:29.37 and A&M post-grad Bethany Galat third at 2:29.87. Bartel couldn’t match her pre-college bests in SCY last season as a freshman, but her time this morning wasn’t far from her best of 2:25.46.

Stanford’s Katie Drabot also impressed in the 200 fly, the only woman under 2:10 with a 2:09.01. Second was A&M’s Jing Quah (2:12.93). Drabot slots into the world top 5 this season, the top American.

OTHER NOTABLE SWIMS

• A&M post-grad Beryl Gastaldello was 54.91 to lead the 100 free prelims on the women’s side. USC sophomore Laticia Transom took second in 55.80, just five-hundredths off of her personal best.
• A&M had a good push in the men’s 100 free prelims, going 1-2-4 with Adam Koster (50.28), Mike Thibert (50.33) and Mark Theall (50.51). USC’s Nikola Miljenic was third (50.50). Both Koster and Thibert were under Olympic Trials cuts.
• Aggie freshman Andres Puente posted the morning’s fastest 200 breast time with a 2:13.99.
• In the men’s 200 fly, USC’s Alexei Sancov led the way with a 1:58.38, a lifetime best.
• Stanford’s Erin Voss was 2:12.53 to lead the 200 back on the women’s side.