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Day 1 SEC Relay Analysis: Casas, Chaney Blast Elite 20-Point Back Legs

2021 SEC MEN’S SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

All eyes were on Shaine Casas and Kieran Smith on the opening night of the Men’s SEC Championships, and two of the NCAA’s biggest stars delivered.

Smith produced the second-fastest 200 freestyle in history leading off Florida’s 800 free relay, while Casas — who also led off the Texas A&M free relay that eventually ran down the Gators — had a standout performance leading off the Aggies’ 200 medley relay.

Casas registered a 50 back time of 20.61, improving on his previous personal best time of 20.82, to slot in as the ninth-fastest swim in history while making him the fifth-fastest performer.

Leading off Florida’s relay, which would go on to win, was freshman Adam Chaney, who knocked 0.99 form his lifetime best in 20.72 to become the ninth-fastest man of all-time.

All-Time Performers, Men’s 50 Back (SCY)

  1. Ryan Murphy (CAL), 20.20 – 2016
  2. Zane Waddell (BAMA), 20.22 – 2019
  3. Junya Koga (MICH), 20.35 – 2014
  4. Connor Oslin (BAMA), 20.39 – 2017
  5. Shaine Casas (TAMU), 20.61 – 2021
  6. Daniel Carr (CAL), 20.62 – 2020
  7. Paul Ungur (UTAH), 20.64 – 2018
  8. Coleman Stewart (NCST), 20.65 – 2018
  9. Adam Chaney (FLOR), 20.72 – 2021
  10. Taylor Dale (UGA) – 2017 / Albert Subirats (ARIZ) – 2008, 20.73

Casas first broke 21 seconds at the 2020 SECs in 20.84, and then hit that 20.82 at the Art Adamson Invitational this past November.

For Chaney, he entered his first collegiate season with a best of 22.58, and then swam a 21.71 at the Auburn Fall Invite which was his PB before tonight.

The freshman ultimately led the Gators to the win in 1:23.17, with Alabama and Texas A&M tying for second in 1:23.28.

Georgia, who entered the day as the second-fastest team in the country in 1:23.60, were just shy of that time for fourth in 1:23.62. The Bulldogs had the fastest fly (Camden Murphy, 19.97) and free splits (Dillon Downing, 18.59) in the field, while Tennessee junior Michael Houlie wowed with a 22.77 breast leg for Tennessee — tying him for 10th all-time.

Check out all the splits from the 200 medley relay below:

Backstroke

Swimmer School Split
Shaine Casas Texas A&M 20.61
Adam Chaney Florida 20.72
Matthew Menke Alabama 21.03
Javier Acevedo Georgia 21.09
Christian Ginieczki Auburn 21.51
Jack Dahlgren Missouri 21.82
Guy Gropper South Carolina 21.82
Harrison Lierz Tennessee 21.87
Miguel Velasquez LSU 21.87
Kyle Barker Kentucky 21.93

Breaststroke

Swimmer School Split
Michael Houlie Tennessee 22.77
Ben Patton Missouri 23.19
Dillon Hillis Florida 23.26
Tanner Olson Texas A&M 23.26
Derek Maas Alabama 23.35
Reid Mikuta Auburn 23.57
Luke Massey South Carolina 23.76
Jack Dalmolin Georgia 23.97
Mitchell Mason LSU 24.01
CJ Layne Kentucky 25.20

Butterfly

Swimmer School Split
Camden Murphy Georgia 19.97
Danny Kovac Missouri 20.04
Nik Eberly Auburn 20.25
Colton Stogner Alabama 20.29
Jace Brown Texas A&M 20.50
Eric Friese Florida 20.54
Kayky Mota Tennessee 20.65
Mason Wilby Kentucky 20.88
Michael Petro LSU 20.90
Jordan Yip South Carolina 21.38

Freestyle

Swimmer School Split
Dillon Downing Georgia 18.59
Matt King Alabama 18.61
Will Davis Florida 18.65
Brooks Curry LSU 18.83
Mark Theall Texas A&M 18.91
Scott Scanlon Tennessee 19.10
AJ Ross South Carolina 19.14
Kyle Leach Missouri 19.37
Matthew Yish Auburn 19.40
Louis Barker Kentucky 19.83

800 FREE RELAY

The only swimmer other than Kieran Smith under 1:32 on the 800 free relay was Casas, who won’t even be swimming the 200 free later in the meet. Smith is clearly in a class of his own here, with his 1:29.48 stacking up as #2 all-time behind Dean Farris.

However, Texas A&M had more depth on their back-half legs as they ultimately came back to win by six-tenths in 6:11.63. Casas hit a best time of 1:31.28 leading off, and Mark Theall, who anchored the Aggie medley relay earlier, was strong in 1:32.52.

We also saw 1:32s from Florida’s Trey Freeman and Georgia’s Jake Magahey, while LSU notably didn’t use Brooks Curry, who owns a best of 1:32.43 from last season.

Bulldog freshman Luca Urlando, who swam a best of 1:33.33 in November, led off in 1:34.56, indicating he’s likely saving a full taper for NCAAs.

Lead-off Splits

Swimmer School Split
Kieran Smith Florida 1:29.48
Shaine Casas Texas A&M 1:31.28
Seth Bailey Tennessee 1:33.85
Christian Sztolcman Auburn 1:33.89
Mason Wilby Kentucky 1:34.04
Freddie Rindshoej Missouri 1:34.32
Luca Urlando Georgia 1:34.56
Tamas Novoszath South Carolina 1:35.35
Cam Auerbach Alabama 1:36.17
Emil Hassling LSU 1:36.69

Flying Splits

Swimmer School Split
Trey Freeman Florida 1:32.41
Mark Theall Texas A&M 1:32.52
Jake Magahey Georgia 1:32.55
Zach Hils Georgia 1:33.05
Kaloyan Bratanov Texas A&M 1:33.30
Jack Dahlgren Missouri 1:33.37
Mikkel Gadgaard Auburn 1:33.53
Bradley Dunham Georgia 1:33.84
Will Jackson Tennessee 1:34.25
Jack Dubois Missouri 1:34.37
Clark Beach Florida 1:34.46
Clayton Bobo Texas A&M 1:34.53
Matthew Menke Alabama 1:34.79
Jakob Clark Kentucky 1:34.87
Grant Reed Missouri 1:34.96
Max Berg Kentucky 1:35.15
Michael Bonson Auburn 1:35.31
Hank Siefert Kentucky 1:35.47
Nolan Briggs Tennessee 1:35.57
Liam Bell Alabama 1:35.70
Miguel Cancel Florida 1:35.89
Lleyton Smith Auburn 1:35.94
Rafael Ponce de Leon Tennessee 1:35.94
Rafael Davila South Carolina 1:36.29
David Boylan LSU 1:36.45
Nicholas Perera Alabama 1:36.63
Phil Costin South Carolina 1:37.19
Chase Allison South Carolina 1:37.52
Brian McGroarty LSU 1:37.86
Adrian Spencer LSU 1:38.05

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noteam
3 years ago

neil walker was 20.71 in the late 90s if i remember correctly.

Anonymous
3 years ago

Jake Magahey was fire and finishing strong. I noticed the UGA coaches were immediately overseeing the warm down by their swimmers to make sure they were ready for the full meet. This should be exciting and I’m certainly not a Bulldog fan.

Waader
3 years ago

I hope Smith swims the 400 IM like last year. I really really want to see a Smith-Casas match-up that is a bit balanced.

Ol' Longhorn
3 years ago

Murphy’s 2016 NCAAs were insane. Great relay splits (18.56 and 41.56 on the free relays, 20.2 and 43.51 on the medleys), 1:40.2 in the 200 IM when 1:40.0 won, 43.49 100 back, and then that leg killer 200 back that he won by almost 3 seconds on the last day. No wonder he won the Olympic gold medals that year.

Dudeman
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
3 years ago

His 100 and 200 back are still some of the most impressive swims I’ve ever seen. Dean’s 43.6 didn’t look as impressive only because Coleman went 43.9 right next to him. But to go 43.4 when the rest of the field didn’t even break 45 was insanity.

Another Dean
3 years ago

Dean 20.73 leading off Harvard’s 200 medley at Ncaas 2019

Amos
3 years ago

Long Live the Mason Manta Rays!

PK Doesn't Like His Long Name
3 years ago

Cmon guys! Justice for Subirats on the fastest 50 back splits of all time list!!!

ArtVanDeLegh10
Reply to  PK Doesn't Like His Long Name
3 years ago

I think Subirats went faster in 2007 (20.5 I believe) but the relay was DQed. That was when Auburn’s Puninski went about 17m UW on the fly leg but was not DQed.

PK Doesn't Like His Long Name
Reply to  ArtVanDeLegh10
3 years ago

A really excellent website even wrote an article about it, with video!

https://staging.swimswam.com/when-72-points-vanished-in-one-ncaa-final-the-infamous-medley-relay-of-2007/

PK Doesn't Like His Long Name
Reply to  ArtVanDeLegh10
3 years ago

Also, the video doesn’t really back it up on Puninski-he didn’t appear to go long and he took 5 strokes on the way out and 6 on the way back, it would be really tough to do that and be long on the underwater.

Horninco
Reply to  ArtVanDeLegh10
3 years ago

Video doesn’t support the 17m claim

Aaron J Thomas
Reply to  ArtVanDeLegh10
3 years ago

And for those who do not know: Officially LEADOFF SPLITS count as official swims on a relay that is subsequently DQ’d .

Bobthebuilderrocks
3 years ago

I remember when Adam Chaney committed to Florida and people were saying how he was the start of top level sprint talent committing to Florida after seeing what the program did with Dressel. Coach Nesty and Jungbluth are really great coaches and I have to say, if Chaney is mainly trained by Jungbluth (just making that connection, sprinter being trained by the sprint coach) then Coach Jungbluth deserves a lot more recognition than he’s gotten.

Hswimmer
Reply to  Bobthebuilderrocks
3 years ago

He gets 0 recognition it’s sad how little rec assistants get

Mike
Reply to  Bobthebuilderrocks
3 years ago

Steve’s been killing at Florida since Brad deBorde did 18.86 at NCAAs

About James Sutherland

James Sutherland

James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism. Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …

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