Hansson Goes 58.1, Casas 52.3 In LCM Fly At Art Adamson 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

A pair of big 100-meter fly swims highlighted this morning’s Art Adamson prelims: USC senior Louise Hansson went 58.14 for the women and A&M sophomore Shaine Casas 52.34 for the men.

Neither swim is a career-best, but both are relatively close. Hansson was 57.10 last summer, representing Sweden at the World Championships. She’s only been sub-58 a handful of times in her career, though, and her lifetime-best heading into last summer was only 57.99.

In short course yards, Hansson is the defending NCAA champ, and holds the U.S. Open record at 49.26. She’ll try to attack the national ranks in yards tonight. Prior to this week, no one in the nation had officially been under 51, though Michigan’s Maggie MacNeil went 49.57 in an unofficial intrasquad meet. Wisconsin’s Beata Nelson just went 50.65 in another invite this morning, so she and Hansson may be swimming off for the official national lead tonight.

Casas, last night’s blowup 200 IM winner, went 52.34 this morning in a swim just two tenths off his lifetime-best. Casas went 52.15 at U.S. Nationals last summer. Casas moved up to #10 all-time in the 200-yard IM last night, and should have a shot at a nationally-ranking 100-yard fly tonight. His lifetime-best is 45.91, and if he can break 46, he’ll also be in the hunt for the NCAA’s top time this year. (Prior to this week’s invites, Cal’s Zheng Quah led the nation at 45.98).

Casas also swam the 100 back, going 53.14 for the top spot. That’s only four tenths off his lifetime-best, and is easily the second-best swim of his career in the event. The 100 back is fast becoming a primary event for Casas after a breakout summer; he’ll look to challenge his 45.94 career-best tonight.

Another notable swim came in the 200 free, where USC sophomore Alexei Sancov was 1:48.56. Sancov was a highly-touted recruit who disappointed a little in his rookie year, missing the NCAA invite line. He’s appeared to focus in a little more on the 200-yard distance this season, specializing in the 200 IM, 200 free and 200 fly, and had a two-second drop in the IM last night. Sancov’s 200-meter free this morning was his best swim in the event since the summer of 2018, and faster than he went at Worlds last summer (1:48.60). Tonight, he’ll chase his career-best 1:32.8 in short course yards.

Other event leaders on day 2 prelims:

• Last night’s 500 free runner-up Brooke Forde leads the women’s 400 IM. She was 4:43.20 – that’s still a ways off her lifetime-best 4:35.09 from when she was U.S. National runner-up in 2018, but was the top prelims swim by more than four seconds.
• The teammate who bested her in that 500 free, Katie Drabot, is the top 200 free qualifier. The senior Drabot was 1:59.92 in a solid swim. Drabot has been 1:57 in her career, but only once and in 2017. Last summer, she didn’t get to focus on the event much, instead swimming butterfly in her World Championships rest meet. Drabot was 1:58.90 for a season-best last year, so this swim is a nice step as Drabot could be in the mix for a 4×200 free relay spot on the U.S. Olympic team.
• USC freshman Ivan Puskovitch has had a solid meet so far. He went 4:26.85 to lead the men’s 400 IM this morning. Based on rough conversions, he should have a great shot tonight to chase his career-best 3:54.2 in short course yards.
• Stanford sophomore Zoe Bartel went 1:08.46 to pace the 100 breast. That’s better than her 2019 season-best, and takes a step closer to her 2016-2017 seasons where she was 1:07 and won medals at both Junior Pan Pacs and World Juniors.
• In the men’s race, it was a huge drop from A&M junior Tanner Olson. He cut from 1:02.7 to 1:01.70 to pace the event by a half-second. Olson’s short course yards best is 53.0, but he’s in line to smash that tonight based on his big morning swim.
• Aggie pro Lisa Bratton was first in the 100 back, going 1:00.50. That’s her third-best swim of all-time, and should bode well for her primary 200 back later in the meet. Stanford rookie Alexandra Crisera was second in 1:01.67 – that’s her best time outside of Nationals or Junior Nationals, where she’s been 1:00.8 back in 2018.