Thomas Heilman Beats 100 Fly, 200 Free National Age Group Records During Prelims in Greensboro
During the Friday morning prelims session at Junior Nationals in Greensboro, Thomas Heilman took down two National Age Group. Heilman, a 14-year-old from Cavalier Aquatics, continued his impressive run through Greensboro over two weeks with the U.S. Open in long course and then Junior Nationals in short course. He broke one record belonging to a U.S. Olympian and another of his own in the very next event.
First, Heilman swam a 46.42 to qualify first in the 100 fly prelims, well ahead of second-place qualifier Tate Bacon (47.01). Heilman beat the previous record held by 2021 Olympian Michael Andrew (46.95) by a half-second, and he crushed his own lifetime best of 47.35.
Just a few minutes later, Heilman crushed his own NAG record in the 200 free by almost a second. He recorded a time of 1:35.28, well under his previous record of 1:36.25, and that earned him the second seed for the final behind Daniel Diehl (1:34.56). The Greensboro meet is using separate women’s and men’s pools for prelims, so Heilman did not have the extra event to recover, making his performance all the more impressive.
During Thursday’s action, Heilman narrowly missed the NAG record in the 50 free, but he owns several other records in the 13-14 age group. In short course, he tops the 100 free at 43.51, and he will compete in that event Saturday in Greensboro. He also owns 13-14 long course marks in the 50 free, 100 free, 200 free and 100 fly.
