Shaine Casas & Leah Smith Scratch Out of A-Final Double in Knoxville

2024 PRO SWIM SERIES – KNOXVILLE

• January 10-13, 2024
• Knoxville, Tennessee
• LCM (50 meters)
• Start Times
  • All Prelims: 9am (EST)
  • Thurs-Sat Finals: 6pm (EST)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results
• Day 1 Finals Live Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Live Recap | Day 2 Finals Live Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Live Recap

FRIDAY (DAY 3) FINALS HEAT SHEET

Looking to avoid the pain of double A-Finals as endured last night by Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh, both Shaine Casas and Leah Smith have opted out of an event tonight, with Casas focusing on the 100 fly and Smith on the 200 free.

Casas, who has had a recent spat of missing A-finals (read about them here and here), safely qualified as the #5 seed in the 200 backstroke, stopping the clock in 2:01.84, just 2 seconds behind Hunter Tapp‘s top time of 1:59.82. Later on in the morning, Casas posted a 52.59 in the 100 fly, which has him in lane 5 tonight, just .05 off Santo Condorelli‘s time of 52.24.

This time around, Casas has opted to voluntarily “miss” an A-final, scratching out of the 200 back. The resulting shuffle will see the University of Tennessee’s Landon Driggers hoping to bring some outside smoke to the A-final, while Dynamo’s Luke Amerson has moved into the B.

Smith took on an even more brutal double this morning, qualifying 3rd in the 200 free this morning in 1:59.59 as well as 3rd in the 400 IM in 4:45.89. With a likely goal of making the 200-free final at the Olympic Trials and a spot on the team, whether individually or in the 4×200, Smith has opted against swimming the IM this evening.

As a result of this, Addison Reese of Laker Swim has been bumped into the A-final, and as a result of the reshuffling, Katie Ledecky and Lilly King will find themselves next to each other in lanes 5 and 6. The pair had friendly words about competing in the event over the summer with King swimming a 4:47.57 in June.

There were no other scratches in the A-Finals but several in the B.

• Men’s 200 Free: Both Trenton Julian (#9) and Gabe Jett (#12) scratched out. Moving into the B-Final are Thomas Heilman and Nikoli Blackman. Julian is the 4th seed in the 100 fly.
• Women’s 400 IM: In addition to the aforementioned Smith scratch, Tennessee Aquatic’s Alexis Yager (#12) has scratched, as well as #17 and #19 Haley McDonald and KC Braeger, Riley Leach (#18) and Izzy Phifer (#18) are now swimming in the B-final.
• Men’s 400 IM: Maximus Williamson (#10) has opted out of lane 5 in the B-final, instead opting to focus on the 200 free, where he will swim in the B-final. Moving into the 400 IM is Baylor Swim Club’s Luke Waldrep.
• Women’s 100 Fly: Abby Harter (T-10th) has opted out of the fly and instead will contest the C-final of the 200 free. Moving into the B final is Pinnacle Racing’s Miriam Guevara.