Shaine Casas Hits 52.51 100 Back PB To Highlight Day 2 Of Austin Sectionals

2022 SPEEDO SOUTHERN SECTIONALS

• July 7-10, 2022
• Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center, Austin, TX
• LCM
• Live Results
• Also on Meet Mobile as “2022 ST TXLA Speedo Southern Sectionals”

On the second day of the Austin Speedo Sectionals, Shaine Casas went a personal best time of 52.51 in the men’s 100 back, winning his race by nearly three seconds in front of Sam Stewart (55.17) and Matthew Klotz (56.20). This time is faster than the 53.01 he swam to finish fourth at U.S. trials this year, and improves upon his previous best time of 52.72 set nearly three years ago at the 2022 U.S. National Championships. It also would have finished fifth at Worlds.

Casas is now tied with Nick Thoman as the 18th fastest performer of all time and the sixth-fastest U.S. performer in the 100 back.

All-time U.S. performers, Men’s 100 Back:

1. Ryan Murphy — 51.86 (2016)
2. Aaron Peirsol — 51.94 (2009)
3. Hunter Armstrong — 51.98 (2022)
4. Matt Grevers — 52.08 (2012)
5. David Plummer  — 52.12 (2016)
6. Nick Thoman (2009)/Shaine Casas (2022) — 52.51

Compared to 2019, Casas was faster on both his front half and his back half today. However, he made the most improvement going out, with his first 50 being 0.17 seconds faster than it was in 2019, but his back half only improved by 0.04 seconds.

Comparative splits, Shaine Casas (2019) vs. Shaine Casas (2022):

Yesterday, Casas set a personal best time of 48.23 in the 100 free, which would have placed him fourth at U.S. trials this year. He is just coming off the FINA World Championships two weeks ago, where took bronze in the 200 back with a time of 1:55.35.

Another notable swim came from Casas’s Texas training partner Coby Carrozza, who clocked a 1:46.97 in the 200 free. This time is just 0.1 seconds off the 1:46.87 he went to finish fifth at U.S. trials, which qualified him onto the Worlds team as a member of the 4×200 free relay. Carrozza beat out 15-year-old Maximus Williamson, who took second with a best time of 1:50.56. He shaves a small amount off his previous lifetime best of 1:50.65, which came from finishing 24th overall at U.S. trials.

On the women’s side, it was Kelly Pash who won the 200 free in a 1:59.47, her fastest time ever. Her previous best time of 1:59.58 was from the 2020 Toyota U.S. Open. She was the only woman in the field that dipped under the two-minute barrier, placing ahead of future Longhorn Jillian Cox (2:00.75) and current Longhorn Kyla Leibel (2:01.00). Erica Sullivan, yesterday’s 800 free champ, was sixth with a time of 2:04.02.

A pair of teenagers took the women’s 100 back and 400 IM respectively, as 17-year old Texas A&M commit Paula Warren won the 100 back in a time of 1:03.29 and 16-year-old Carli Cronk won the 400 IM in 4:48.53. Warren took a few tenths off her previous best time of 1:03.83, and Cronk dropped nearly four seconds from her 4:52.48 that was clocked in June 2022.

Jake Foster won the men’s 400 IM with a 4:22.89. He was well off the 4:13.76 he threw down at trials, but was fast enough to beat his competition by over three seconds.