2021 Pro Swim Series — San Antonio
- January 14-17, 2021
- North East ISD Blossom Athletic Complex, San Antonio, Texas
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Info (Both Sites)
- Live Results
- Session Timelines
- How To Watch
- Live Stream (USA Swimming)
- Live Stream (Olympic Channel)
- Friday Finals Heat Sheet
Texas A&M junior Shaine Casas posted the 15th fastest 100m fly in the world this season during Friday’s prelims session of the San Antonio Pro Swim Series. His time of 51.91 destroyed his previous lifetime best of 52.15 from 2019 Summer Nationals, making this his first 100m fly under 52.00. The first time he swam a 52 in the event was at Summer Nationals in 2018.
Casas repeated the feat in finals, touching the wall 1st at 51.94, nearly a second ahead of the rest of the field led by Danny Kovac. Casas had been ranked 7th going into this meet, behind 5 of the swimmers that he beat in finals. Maxime Rooney’s 50.68 had established him as the top seed going into prelims, but Rooney qualified for the ‘B’ final and got his hand to the wall 1st in that heat.
Casas took out the race significantly faster in finals than he did during prelims, but he didn’t match the back-half speed he finished with during the morning race:
| Casas Prelims | Casas Finals | |||
| 50 | 24.15 | 23.75 | ||
| 100 | 51.91 | (27.76) | 51.94 | (28.18) |
Casas has been a dominant force in the short course collegiate season at Texas A&M where he posted the 4th all-time fastest 200 backstroke, coming within one second of Ryan Murphy’s world record, and the 7th all-time fastest 200 fly. The Pro Swim Series is one of a select few opportunities for Casas to showcase how that speed has translated into long course this season.
As a freshman at Texas A&M, Casas swam the 100 and 200 yard backstrokes at the SEC Championships, before switching to the 100 and 200 yard butterflies at the NCAA Championships, with mixed results. Since then, he’s tended more toward the backstroke and IM races, but headed toward the Olympic Trials, there’s a chance we’ll see him in either the 100 or 200 fly. That’s because the 200 back and 200 IM are in direct conflict, so if he chooses, rather than trying the double, that leaves some room in his schedule for other events.
On Saturday, Casas contests the 100m back as the second seed against Murphy, the world record-holder. Casas’ best time in this event, 52.72, is from August 2019. In Friday’s 100 fly final Murphy finished in a tie for 4th place with Zach Harting.