McAllen officially proclaims Shaine Casas Day

MCALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The summer games may be over but the City of McAllen is celebrating its very own Olympian.

City Commissioners officially proclaimed Aug. 12, as Shaine Casas Day. The proclamation was led by Commissioner for District 6 Pepe Cabeza de Vaca, who gave the honor to Casas' mom, Monica Epling.

She thanked the community for rallying together and helping her go to Paris to watch her son compete at the Olympics.

Epling did not get to see her son due to the athletes being confined to their quarters and isolated because of COVID-19. However, she says Casas has the next Olympics in high sights.

“I wanted to say thank you again," Epling said. "I can't say it enough. And what's next for Shane? He's taking a break. He's relaxing. That's not something that he does really often, but he feels that he does need it. Everybody that's sane is taking a break, so they're all resting, and he's planning on hitting it hard, because he's already looking forward to 2028."

Epling also shared with other young athletes in attendance that her son used to be a Texas Amateur Athletic Federation (TAAF) athlete

She said that since he was six years old he started competing in swimming and by the age of eight, he had already won and competed at the national level.