Friday, February 25, 2022
Shaine Casas Carries New Goals and Outlook to Road Ahead
After the initial disappointment of missing the 2020 U.S. Olympic Swim Team last summer, Shaine Casas took a mental inventory and assessment of his swimming future.
Yes, it was his first U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Swimming event, and yes, he came within a few seconds of making the team (third behind Ryan Murphy and surprise Hunter Armstrong in the 100 back).
But rather than return for his senior season at Texas A&M – where he won three NCAA titles in 2021 – Casas decided to make a huge change.
In December, just after his gold-medal showing at the FINA World Championships (25m), Casas left College Station and made the cross-state move to Austin.
“I know it was a risky decision – being so close to graduating and finishing out my collegiate career at Texas A&M – but I needed to change things up,” Casas said.
But he wasn’t leaving A&M to compete for the Longhorns his final season.
He decided to go pro – ending his college eligibility – and train with the Longhorn Swim Club and legendary Coach Eddie Reese.
“People asked me why I didn’t just stay and swim my final season, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do,” he said. “There are just two years before the next Olympic Trials, so I decided to take control of my swimming future now.
“I plan to finish and graduate, but right now, it’s great to train with freedom from classes. I practice every day without restrictions, and I’m not working around dual meets. It’s been great. I’m feeling a new level of confidence in myself and my swimming.”
Casas said since he arrived in Austin, he’s been relearning everything about his swimming, and the experience is going very well so far.
At Trials last summer, he admits he wasn’t in shape enough to make the team, so he’s committed himself to improving his fitness as well as breaking down, reworking and refining his stroke.
He said of course he would have loved to have made the Olympic team.
But in retrospect, he knows things played out as they were supposed to and he’s learned some valuable lessons.
“I believe it happened for a reason; I just wasn’t prepared enough even though I told myself I was,” he said. “I clearly hadn’t done enough to get that last spot.
“I know now that I wasn’t ready, and that’s motivated me even more. I know what failure feels like, and next time, things will be a lot different. This was my first Trials, so that will be different next time as well.”
Casas said his performance late last year at Short Course Worlds–earning one gold (100 back), three silver and one bronze medals–renewed his belief in and commitment to continuing his quest to become an Olympian.
He said the competition schedule this year leading up to and including Phillips 66 International Team Trials at the end of April in Greensboro, N.C.—where the 2022 World Championship Team will be selected—will provide him with another opportunity to see where he is with his swimming two years out from the next Olympics.
In his mind, he sees the meet as an opportunity for redemption after his disappointing performance at Trials.
“Making this summer’s World (Championship) team would be exactly what I need to prove to myself that I can be better than I was (last summer),” he said. “Making the team would be my biggest event—international or other—so far in my career, so it would be a great achievement.”
And while the backstroke events continue to be his strongest races, Casas said his time in Austin has allowed him to work on developing a couple of other events and strokes – namely the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly.
Even though he’s currently unsure if he’ll compete in all or any of these events moving forward, he said swimming other strokes has helped improve his bread and butter events.
“I’m all about doing what I need to be the among the best three swimmers in the world, and I want to show that at a meet like Worlds,” Casas said. “I still feel like I have a lot to prove. I know I have a really long career ahead of me, but I’m still young and internationally inexperienced.
“Experiences at meets like Short Course Worlds and World Championships provide me opportunities to keep building to be the best-prepared I can be for 2024.”
As one of a handful of African-American swimmers at the forefront of the sport, Casas said his role models growing up included Cullen Jones as well as Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte – but that’s not where things ended.
He also looked toward Black athletes in others sports—namely Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant—as examples after whom he wanted to model his swimming and life.
And while he said he hardly experienced any discrimination or prejudice as a Black athlete in a predominantly white sport, now that he is someone of notoriety and influence in swimming, he wants to do everything he can to set the right example for younger athletes of all races.
“The athletes I looked up to went beyond their skills; it was about who they were as a person,” said Casas, who is half-Black and half-Cuban. “I want to make sure that younger athletes can find that same thing when they see me. I want to be a role model for everyone.”
Yes, it was his first U.S. Olympic Team Trials - Swimming event, and yes, he came within a few seconds of making the team (third behind Ryan Murphy and surprise Hunter Armstrong in the 100 back).
But rather than return for his senior season at Texas A&M – where he won three NCAA titles in 2021 – Casas decided to make a huge change.
In December, just after his gold-medal showing at the FINA World Championships (25m), Casas left College Station and made the cross-state move to Austin.
“I know it was a risky decision – being so close to graduating and finishing out my collegiate career at Texas A&M – but I needed to change things up,” Casas said.
But he wasn’t leaving A&M to compete for the Longhorns his final season.
He decided to go pro – ending his college eligibility – and train with the Longhorn Swim Club and legendary Coach Eddie Reese.
“People asked me why I didn’t just stay and swim my final season, but it wasn’t what I wanted to do,” he said. “There are just two years before the next Olympic Trials, so I decided to take control of my swimming future now.
“I plan to finish and graduate, but right now, it’s great to train with freedom from classes. I practice every day without restrictions, and I’m not working around dual meets. It’s been great. I’m feeling a new level of confidence in myself and my swimming.”
Casas said since he arrived in Austin, he’s been relearning everything about his swimming, and the experience is going very well so far.
At Trials last summer, he admits he wasn’t in shape enough to make the team, so he’s committed himself to improving his fitness as well as breaking down, reworking and refining his stroke.
He said of course he would have loved to have made the Olympic team.
But in retrospect, he knows things played out as they were supposed to and he’s learned some valuable lessons.
“I believe it happened for a reason; I just wasn’t prepared enough even though I told myself I was,” he said. “I clearly hadn’t done enough to get that last spot.
“I know now that I wasn’t ready, and that’s motivated me even more. I know what failure feels like, and next time, things will be a lot different. This was my first Trials, so that will be different next time as well.”
Casas said his performance late last year at Short Course Worlds–earning one gold (100 back), three silver and one bronze medals–renewed his belief in and commitment to continuing his quest to become an Olympian.
He said the competition schedule this year leading up to and including Phillips 66 International Team Trials at the end of April in Greensboro, N.C.—where the 2022 World Championship Team will be selected—will provide him with another opportunity to see where he is with his swimming two years out from the next Olympics.
In his mind, he sees the meet as an opportunity for redemption after his disappointing performance at Trials.
“Making this summer’s World (Championship) team would be exactly what I need to prove to myself that I can be better than I was (last summer),” he said. “Making the team would be my biggest event—international or other—so far in my career, so it would be a great achievement.”
And while the backstroke events continue to be his strongest races, Casas said his time in Austin has allowed him to work on developing a couple of other events and strokes – namely the 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly.
Even though he’s currently unsure if he’ll compete in all or any of these events moving forward, he said swimming other strokes has helped improve his bread and butter events.
“I’m all about doing what I need to be the among the best three swimmers in the world, and I want to show that at a meet like Worlds,” Casas said. “I still feel like I have a lot to prove. I know I have a really long career ahead of me, but I’m still young and internationally inexperienced.
“Experiences at meets like Short Course Worlds and World Championships provide me opportunities to keep building to be the best-prepared I can be for 2024.”
As one of a handful of African-American swimmers at the forefront of the sport, Casas said his role models growing up included Cullen Jones as well as Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte – but that’s not where things ended.
He also looked toward Black athletes in others sports—namely Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant—as examples after whom he wanted to model his swimming and life.
And while he said he hardly experienced any discrimination or prejudice as a Black athlete in a predominantly white sport, now that he is someone of notoriety and influence in swimming, he wants to do everything he can to set the right example for younger athletes of all races.
“The athletes I looked up to went beyond their skills; it was about who they were as a person,” said Casas, who is half-Black and half-Cuban. “I want to make sure that younger athletes can find that same thing when they see me. I want to be a role model for everyone.”