Thomas Heilman Breaks 2 More National Age Group Records to Wrap Weekend Meet

27TH ANNUAL YOTA/ARENA CAPITAL CLASSIC

  • December 6th-8th, 2019
  • Triangle Aquatic Center, Cary, North Carolina
  • 25 yard course
  • Results on Meet Mobile – “27th Annual YOTA/Arena Capital Classic”

12-year old Thomas Heilman finished his meet at the 27th annual YOTA/Arena Capital Classic with 2 more National Age Group Records. That gave him national records in 5 events at the 3 day meet.

In the 100 free, he swam a 47.73 in prelims and a 47.15 in finals. Both of those times are under the old National Age Group Record of 47.89 that was set by Vinny Marciano in 2014.

He also swam a 22.87 in the 50 fly final, which broke the old record of 23.49 that was set earlier this year by Jarrett Payne.

After his swims earlier in the meet, these two records seemed destined to be broken. He was already within half-a-second in the 100 free. He was more than a second away from the 50 fly record, but having already broken the 100 and 200 fly records, along with the 50 free, the 50 fly seemed to be in the crosshairs as well.

Times This Week (With All-Time 11-12 Age Group Rankings):

  • 50 yard free – 21.50 (#1)
  • 200 yard free – 1:44.18 (#1)
  • 500 yard free – 4:49.76 (#25)
  • 400 yard IM – 4:14.68 (#8)
  • 200 yard fly – 1:53.66 (#1)
  • 100 butterfly (on a relay split) – 51.99
  • 50 free (on a relay split) – 21.68
  • 100 free – 47.15 (#1)
  • 50 fly – 22.87 (#1)
  • 200 IM (prelims) – 1:59.69 (#13)
  • 100 free (on a relay split) – 48.93

Heilman trains with the Piedmont Family YMCA/CYAC in Charlottesville, Virginia. He ages up early in the new year.

 

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Bobo Gigi
4 years ago

Impressive performances. Congrats.
Hopefully he keeps having fun and doesn’t burn out.

Science Geek
Reply to  Bobo Gigi
4 years ago

Yeah those are insane 12 year old times

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Bobo Gigi
4 years ago

Vinny Marciano, who held the 100 free record, must be a senior in high school by now. Where’s he going to college? How fast is he now? Saw a 20.8 50 SCY free somewhere.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Braden Keith
4 years ago

I’m sure he’s happy. But another in the long list of cautionary tales about 12-year-old boy phenoms in the pool.

Swimgeek
4 years ago

He’s from Cville. I expect Desorbo is trying to get a VERY early verbal from this kid!

Daddy
Reply to  Swimgeek
4 years ago

I don’t know why this has downvotes, people must be missing the “trying” part

Bobo Gigi
Reply to  Daddy
4 years ago

I don’t know why some people continue to care about downvotes.

Ol' Longhorn
Reply to  Bobo Gigi
4 years ago

Don’t worry. Yozhik took your place as the downvote magnet.

Jim Bean
4 years ago

Nice swims, but again, let’s not go crazy here. He’s 12. We’ve seen kids burn out after this. Kind of makes you question the point of NAG records for 14/unders

swimgeek
Reply to  Jim Bean
4 years ago

So apparently it’s questionable to celebrate age-12 times. Yet we now have a system where kids make college commitments based on age-15 times.

Book it!
Reply to  Jim Bean
4 years ago

I agree, he might be one of those kids that’s 6′ 5″ at 12 years old and done growing. Seen it many times when the rest of the field slowly catches him.

UpstateCoach
Reply to  Book it!
4 years ago

He’s 6 foot even. Probably has another few inches to grow based on arm/leg size. The rest of the field will catch up more, but his strokes are also fantastic. The age Group staff at CYAC has taken great strides to make it clear that his technique should be fantastic should he want to progress. So, hopefully, no burnout. It’d be great to watch continued progress from him.

Patrick
Reply to  Jim Bean
4 years ago

Seems reasonable to recognize him for his achievements, even if it doesn’t guarantee the same level of success throughout his career. I don’t see anyone declaring him the next Dressel or Phelps yet.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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