2026 NCSA Championships
- July 22-26, 2026
- Indianapolis, IN
- LCM
- Meet Mobile: “2026 NCSA Summer Swimming Championships”
- Meet Central
- Day 1 Recap
On night one of the NCSA Championships in Indianapolis, 14-year-old Lubo Liu-Tchorbadjiyski of New Trier Aquatics blasted a time of 51.03 in the boys’ 100 freestyle, breaking Thomas Heilman‘s 13-14 National Age Group Record by nine-hundredths.
Liu-Tchorbadjiyski finished 4th in the event overall, but he is at least three years younger than every swimmers ahead of him. Nazar Zoukovski (18) won the event in 50.61. Benjamin Luginski (17) swam 50.63, and Henry Anstine (17) touched in 50.86.
This marks Liu-Tchorbadjiyski’s first National Age Group record, but he has a few more events this week where he can challenge the current records. His swim tonight was more than a half-second drop from his pre-meet best of 51.61, which he set earlier this month.
The former record was set by Thomas Heilman at the 2021 U.S. Open at 51.12. He split 24.60/26.52 to set the record, a little faster on the back end than Liu-Tchorbadjiyski was tonight.
Split Comparison
| Old NAG — 51.12, Thomas Heilman (2021) | New NAG — 51.03, Lubo Liu-Tchorbadjiyski (2026) |
Liu-Tchorbadjiyski’s Former Best — 51.61
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| 50 | 24.60 | 24.27 | 24.33 |
| 100 | 26.52 | 26.76 | 27.28 |
| Total | 51.12 | 51.03 | 51.61 |
Liu-Tchorbadjiyski was slightly faster on the first 50 than his previous best time, but the biggest difference maker came on the 2nd 50, where Liu-Tchorbadjiyski came home in 26.76, more than half-a-second faster than the 27.28 he swam earlier this month.
Updated Top 5 All-Time 13-14 Boys 100 Freestyle
- Lubo Liu-Tchorbadjiyski — 51.03 (2026)
- Thomas Heilman — 51.12 (2021)
- Luke Vatev — 51.21 (2024)
- Maximus Williamson — 51.25 (2021)
- Michael Andrew — 51.30 (2014)
Illinois has had some crazy good 13-14 boys recently: Lubo, Vatev, and McMillan have all put up top 3 NAG performances in the past few years