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McALLEN — The Men’s 200-meter Individual Medley Semifinals was still over an hour away, yet fans of Shaine Casas — many wearing red, white, and blue — were already filling the seats of the McAllen High School auditorium.
Casas, a 2018 graduate of McAllen High School, was set to compete for his chance to advance to the finals after finishing second in the fourth heat, and fifth overall, to advance to the semifinals early Thursday morning.
Chants of “Go Shaine! Go Shaine!” echoed throughout the auditorium as many in the crowd carried signs and waved American flags. Others wore the purple and gold of Casas’s alma mater.
Casas, however, didn’t qualify for the final round of competition, losing by less than a second and leaving local onlookers silent.
Despite the loss, the hometown crowd left the auditorium inspired by Casas’ performance. History had already been made since Casas is now the sixth Rio Grande Valley Olympian.
As the eager crowd awaited their chance to watch the hometown Olympian on the big screen in the school that he once attended, they cheered on other members of the USA Swim Team.
McAllen school board trustee Debbie Crane Aliseda held a sign in support of Casas as she sat with the crowd of supporters. She said that she has known Casas since he was in middle school, and he graduated with her daughter.
“I don’t even have words to explain it. It’s so awe-inspiring for our kids,” Aliseda said. “It’s just the most incredible thing to see our children achieving these kinds of things. It’s just incredible. And you know, anybody can do it. We have talent. It’s just an incredible feeling to see our young students out there achieving and competing and winning.”
McAllen High athletic coordinator Patrick Shelby was also present to show his support for the former Bulldog.
“This is huge. This is amazing,” Shelby said as chants began to ring out throughout the auditorium ahead of Casas’s heat.
“You know, you always set goals in life, and you have these dreams to accomplish these goals. And this right here is just even more motivation for our athletes,” Shelby said. “Hey, dream big, you know. There is a chance if you dream big and continue to work hard and stay focused that everything that you want to do, from academics to your training to your athletics, it’ll take you to that next level in college.
“And then you never know what can happen once you get there.”
He recalled seeing Casas at a McHi basketball game last year and how his support for his former school inspired this and future generations of athletes.
“Just to see all the students start looking around, and everybody’s whispering, ‘That’s Shaine. That’s Shaine,’” he recalled. “I got to introduce myself to him and he was a real good young man. Just to have his presence around our students at that time, at that moment, I thought it was really cool because you hear his name, you see him on TV, and now here he is in person.”
McHi Swimming head coach Johnny Gutierrez said that he did not have the chance to coach Casas, but he has known him since he first began competing. He said that he has been following his career ever since.
“It’s great to see because he does awesome when the spotlight is on him, so I’m hoping this race he does great,” Gutierrez said. “It’s emotional for sure. We’re all kind of like, you know, a little nervous for him, but we’re excited at the same time.”
Jude Fernandez, 22, graduated from McHi in 2020. He was a teammate of Casas on the swim team for his first two years of high school, describing him as someone with a great personality and fun to be around.
“I don’t want to brag or anything, but I think I was like his favorite person,” Fernandez said. “He really loved me for some reason.”
Fernandez said that it was a privilege to know Casas and to be able to swim with him in high school. He said that he knew that Casas was destined for greatness.
“His aspirations had already set in as to what he wanted to do,” Fernandez said. “He always wanted to be an Olympian. He set his mind to it and he never gave up. The whole time we were at McHi he was just working towards this singular goal, and now we’re here at it.”
“It’s amazing to get to cheer him on, seeing him swim for Team USA,” he continued. “It gives me a lot of pride being from McHi, and it also gives me a lot of pride being an American right now.”
The crowd of supporters were loud and energetic throughout Casas’ race, with many jumping to their feet and pumping their fists in the air. When the race ended with Casas falling just short of qualifying to the final round of competition, the stunned crowd fell silent.
Then in a show of support, the silent crowd began to grow loud again as they cheered on Casas and his historic run.
As the crowd slowly trickled out of the auditorium, they erupted into another chant, “Way to go, Shaine, way to go! Way to go, Shaine, way to go!”
To see more, view staff photographer Joel Martinez’s full photo gallery here:
Photo Gallery: Shaine Casas’ Olympic run inspires pride at McAllen High School
