Shaine Casas Goes 44.48 in 100 Back; Louise Hansson Dominates Art Adamson Invitational

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Shaine Casas head heads turning again at the Art Adamson Invitational. Photo Courtesy: Connor Trimble

Shaine Casas had another dominant swim at the Texas A&M Art Adamson Invitational.

The sophomore stunned the field in the 100-yard backstroke, winning in 44.48, breaking the pool record and earning an NCAA automatic qualifying time.

The time is the fastest in the NCAA this season and was nearly three seconds ahead of the field, almost unheard of in a race of 100 yards — especially when the second and third place finishers earned NCAA provisional cuts.

It was not the first stunning swim this week for Casas, who went a 1:40 in the 200 IM.

Air Force’s Isaac Gwin was second in 47.11 and USC’s Jack Kirby was third (47.46).

Texas A&M continued its fast swimming on Friday as Casas, Benjamin Walker, Adam Koster and Mark Theall won the 200 medley relay (1:22.44). Casas led off in a 21.07.

Shaine Casas also won the 100 butterfly in 45.26, an NCAA provisional cut and led off the winning 800 free relay, teaming with Theall, Koster and Kaloyan Bratanov to win in 6:15.71, an A cut.

The USC women kept up their relay dominance, winning the 200 medley relay. Laticia Transom, Isa Odgers, Louise Hansson and Jemma Schlicht won the event in 1:36.57, holding off Stanford’s Alex Crisera, Allie Raab, Amalie Fackenthal and Anya Goeders (1:37.43).

Hansson, Transom, Schlicht and Tatum Wade also won the 800 free relay in an NCAA automatic cut of 6:58.06, holding off Stanford’s A cut of 7:00.51 set by Katie Drabot, Lauren Pitzer, Morgan Tankersley and Brooke Forde.

Hansson, of Sweden, dominated the 100 butterfly, winning in 50.05, an NCAA automatic cut and the second-fastest time in the NCAA this year. She led a USC 1-2 finish with Schlicht (51.64), who touched out Fackenthal (52.54).

Transom bested the field by more than a second to win the 200 free in 1:43.27. Drabot was second in 1:44.38, followed by teammate Pitzer (1:45.02).

Forde won the 400 IM in 4:03.86, leading a 1-2-3 Stanford sweep with Allie Szekely (4:05.91) and Hannah Kukurugy (4:10.10).

Stanford’s Erin Voss and Texas A&M’s Emma Carlton tied to win the 100 backstroke in 52.77. Crisera was only a hundredth behind at 52.78.

Texas A&M senior Anna Belousova outlasted the field by more than a second to win the 100 breaststroke in 59.79. Stanford’s Zoe Bartel (1:00.01) and Raab (1:00.28) followed.

Aggie freshman Andreas Puente won the 400 IM in 3:46.75, going 1-2 with Hudson Smith (3:49.13).

Stanford’s Hank Poppe won the 100 breast in 5.205 to hold off Hawaii’s Olli Kokko (52.23) and Puente (52.49).

USC’s Alexei Sancov won the 200 freestyle in 1:32.95 to hold off Texas A&M’s Theall by one hundredth of a second, in the meet’s closest men’s race. Both times were NCAA provisional cuts.

Plenty of great swims to take in, but in the end, Shaine Casas and Louise Hansson were above and beyond the field again.

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