Jay Holmes shares what makes Shaine Casas such a special talent

Key notes from Jay Holmes interview

• Obviously, we’re thrilled to have been able to have the national meet. Last year was such a crazy year, and there was a lot of speculation throughout this year if the meet was even going to happen. Fortunately, people found a way to get it done. We had some high expectations from the standpoint that this was probably the best team we ever had. We had visions of being in the top ten, and it was just a question of how high we could finish. For a while, we were sitting in fifth and sixth, which was for sure exciting for our program. Ultimately, finishing tenth gives us a lot of things to be excited about.
   
• We’re working on our schedule for next year, but we’re focused on the Olympic trials coming up for the United States before we get there. We have several people on our team that are going to be there for the trials. We have a number of internationals that we’re training as well. We do think the Olympics will happen. As soon as we got back from the NCAA meet, we have focused on the Olympic trials. Qualifying for the Olympics is so difficult to do, and it’s something we’re invested in right now.
   
• Several people have a shot at swimming in the Olympics for the United States. There is a meet in Indianapolis in May that several of our international swimmers will be going to and hoping to put up a good time.
   
• We’ve gone to the national championships and had people finish second before. Many people were surprised Shaine Casas was our first individual national champion. For us to go up there and get that first one was really exciting. We were thrilled about the win.
   
• Shaine has very high expectations for himself, and we thought the time would be a bit better. Some people had to remind us when we talked about the time we had won a national championship. I’m thrilled with it, and our staff is as well. It goes back to knowing there is more in the tank for Shaine. He is not satisfied. He knows there is more he can get done. And of course, the next day, he won his second national championship, and the day after that, he won his third. Those were all great moments for us. The 200m back that he did, he was just two-one hundredths off of the American record. He was challenged coming off the 150m wall, which was new for him. His last 50m was pretty awesome. It was almost electric seeing him get his hand to the wall first.
   
• Casas’ body type is great. He’s long, lean, strong and flexible. He is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete. Even other coaches that see him are awed by him and by how versatile of him. He holds nine school records, but you can only swim three at the NCAA meet. All of his times are ranked between first through eighth nationally. He is a true freakshow, and I mean that in the most positive way possible.
   
• Right now, Casas just finished the IM and the back at the NCAA. We have not seen him in a long pool yet, but we’re convinced he will be better on the long course because his strokes are so long. We don’t know for sure which events he’ll swim in the Olympics. We think he’s good in the butterfly. We think he has a great shot at making the team, but he’ll be swimming against more than just the NCAA guys. Shaine will be young compared to a lot of those guys, but he has raced them before. People know who he is. We’re excited for the Olympic trials in Omaha in June.