Casas Earns Second NCAA Title of the Week

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Junior Shaine Casas continued to make Texas A&M history the third day of competition at men's swimming & diving NCAA Championships by earning his second NCAA title of the week. The Aggies currently sit in seventh with 127 points.

Casas, who earned the No. 1 seed in finals after posting the fastest time in prelims, clocked in at 44.20 to take the title in the 100 back. Senior Mark Theall joined Casas in the finals session and finished 16^th in the 200 free (1:33.57) to earn Honorable Mention All-America honors.

The 200 medley relay team of Casas, senior Tanner Olson, sophomore Jace Brown and Theall closed out the day and added points for the Aggies finishing ninth (1:23.45).

In prelims, junior Kaloyan Bratanov posted a time of 1:35.06 for a top-35 finish in the 200 free. Olson made it into the top-20 of the 100 breast with a time of 52.32, while sophomore Andres Puente and freshman Alexander Sanchez clocked in at 53.22 and 53.51, respectively.

The Aggies will return to action with prelims beginning at 9 a.m. and finals to follow at 5 p.m.

For updates and results, follow along on Twitter @aggieswimdive.

Hear From Head Coach Jay Holmes
On Shaine Casas winning his second NCAA individual championship …
We are thrilled with the win. For him to get his second win here at the national championship meet is really awesome for him and for this program. He wasn't too happy with the time, he has been better than that before, but for him to turn it around after swimming three races last night and pick up the win for us was really exciting.

On closing out NCAA Championships strong …
We will need to be scavengers tomorrow to remain in the hunt for a top-10 finish. There are a number of very talented swimmers in the 200 back, but we have confidence in Shaine [Casas] swimming probably his best event. We know they will be coming for him and it's not going to be easy. On top of his race, we have to be scavengers and need to see some strong performances for everyone tomorrow to close this thing out and finish where we want to be.

Top Finishes
200 free – Mark Theall – 1:33.57
100 breast – Tanner Olson – 52.32
100 back – Shaine Casas – 44.20*
200 medley relay – Shaine Casas, Tanner Olson, Jace Brown, Mark Theall – 1:23.45

*denotes first place

Meet Details
Saturday March 27^th
9 a.m. CT Prelims – Watch | Results
5 p.m. CT Finals: 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, 400 free relay – Watch | Results

Schedule

Players Mentioned

Kaloyan Bratanov

Jace Brown

Shaine Casas

Tanner Olson

Andres Puente

Alex Sanchez

Mark Theall

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