ST TXLA UT Invite
- November 20, 2024
- SCY (25 yards)
- Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, Austin, TX
In the same meet where Carson Foster briefly broke the American record in the 500 free, other pros training at the University of Texas also threw down short course yards times at the ST TXLA UT Invite, which happened this past weekend while the adjacent Texas Hall of Fame Invitational was taking place for NCAA athletes.
One of the more notable showings came from Shaine Casas, who has been training as a pro at Texas since 2021. Casas clocked a time of 1:39.44 in the 200 IM, a 1:31.27 in the 200 free and a 44.18 in the 100 back. His performances in all three events were his fastest since the 2020-21 NCAA season, the last season where he was a collegiate swimmer competing for Texas A&M. In the 100 back and 200 IM he posted his second fastest performances of all-time, behind the 43.87 and 1:38.95 that he swam respectively at the Art Adamson Invitational. His 200 free was also his no. 2 performance ever, behind the 1:30.59 he clocked at the 2021 NCAA Championships.
Notably, Casas’ 100 back and 200 IM times were faster than what he put up to win both events at 2021 NCAAs.
Aside from his 500 free, Foster also swam other races. One of them was the 200 breast, where he went a best time of 1:52.93 — improving from his previous PB of 1:53.77 set in February 2023. Breaststroke has historically been Foster’s worst stroke, and yet he still swam a time that would have just missed the ‘B’ finals of the 200 breast at 2024 NCAAs by 0.22 seconds.
Foster also went a time of 3:34.50 in the 400 IM, which is his second-fastest performance ever and around a second off his personal best of 3:33.79 from 2022 NCAAs.
Chase Kalisz was another notable pro competing, firing off a 1:43.38 200 fly, 1:45.34 200 IM and 53.57 100 breast. So was Misha Lyubavskiy, a Russian swimmer who last competed for George Washington University during the 2023-24 NCAA season. He swam times of 4:21.20 in the 500 free and 3:47.77 in the 400 IM, with his 500 free time being an improvement from his previous best of 4:21.63.
The only woman who raced at this invite was 2024 Texas graduate Anna Elendt, who swam a formidable time of 57.94 in the 100 breast. This time is less than a second off the time of 57.04 that she swam to place fourth in the event at 2024 NCAAs.
Read the full story on SwimSwam: Shaine Casas Clocks 1:39.44 200 IM, 1:31.27 200 Free And 44.18 100 Back At ST TXLA Pro Invite
