{"id":640278,"date":"2026-03-30T06:16:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T13:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=640278"},"modified":"2026-03-30T06:16:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T13:16:00","slug":"thomas-heilman-overcame-family-tragedy-for-fine-first-ncaa-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/thomas-heilman-overcame-family-tragedy-for-fine-first-ncaa-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas Heilman Overcame Family Tragedy for Fine First NCAA Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thomas Heilman Overcame Family Tragedy for Fine First NCAA Performance<\/strong><\/p>\n

High-level swimming competitions are nothing new for\u00a0Thomas Heilman<\/strong>, who recently wrapped up one of the most prolific age group careers in U.S. history. Heilman reached the World Championships as a 16-year-old, tying for fourth in the 200 butterfly in his first opportunity, and he has since become a regular on American teams in the butterfly events.<\/p>\n

Three factors have made his first NCAA Championships<\/a> much different. First, everything revolves around the team competition, something Heilman had not experienced previously beyond the Junior Nationals level. With Virginia trying to scratch out a top-10 finish, the Cavaliers have scratched numerous swimmers from individual events to focus on relays taking place at the conclusion of prelims.<\/p>\n

Heilman skipped the 50 free Friday to focus on the 400 medley relay, and the decision paid off as he unleashed a 42.97 butterfly split, a critical effort as Virginia finished eighth overall.<\/p>\n

\"thomas-heilman-\"

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick<\/p><\/div>\n

“Everything revolves around the team, which has been fun,” Heilman said. “For relays, it\u2019s kind of been weird to have the relays at the end of the morning session for us, coming back at night and I don\u2019t want to say cheering against everyone, but that\u2019s kind of what it is. At that point, our fate is sealed. Whatever the other teams do determines our placement. That\u2019s kind of weird. Having to be ready in the morning has been the biggest thing for me.”<\/p>\n

Individually, Heilman swam a lifetime best of 43.58 in the 100 butterfly to place fourth while competing in the fastest field in history, with\u00a0Josh Liendo<\/strong>,\u00a0Hubert Kos<\/strong> and\u00a0Ilya Kharun<\/strong> all going under 43. He was even better in the 200-yard race, smashing his personal best by eight tenths and challenging Kharun until the final yards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Heilman has gone through one of the most challenging personal stretches of his life after his mother Carrie Heilman<\/strong> passed away last month<\/a>. Carrie worked as the Faculty Athletics Representative to Virginia\u2019s athletic department.<\/p>\n

In the weeks afterward, support poured in from around Charlottesville as well as the wider swimming community. The most public-facing memorial came at the NCAA Women’s Championships as the Cavalier women dominated the competition for their sixth consecutive national title. Virginia swimmers typically draw a “V” in Sharpie on their shoulders, but for this meet, the women also penned the initials “C.H.”<\/p>\n

“It’s amazing,” Thomas said of the tribute. “Goes to show that the type of people that they are, that these people around UVA are. One of the main reason I picked it is just because the people in Charlottesville are amazing. And goes to show you how great a person my mom was that people in all realms of life around Charlottesville are willing to reach out and support us.”<\/p>\n

The “us” includes a second Cavalier who competed at NCAAs<\/a>, Thomas’ older brother\u00a0Matthew<\/strong>. The elder Heilman sibling, a senior breaststroker, is finishing off his career this week, marking the lone time the two brothers will compete together at a meet of such consequence. In Friday’s 400 medley relay, Matthew swam his final race as the breaststroke swimmer, splitting 51.87 to lead into the career-best swim from Thomas.<\/p>\n

“We did it at ACCs, too, but for most of the regular season, we had Maximus doing breaststroke,” Thomas said. “I think it\u2019s a great way to send him off, and we had a great time this morning. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a better way to finish it off with him than to do it together.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thomas Heilman Overcame Family Tragedy for Fine First NCAA Performance High-level swimming competitions are nothing new for\u00a0Thomas Heilman, who recently wrapped up one of the most prolific age group careers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":640354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[137589,125188],"class_list":["post-640278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-college","tag-2026-ncaa-division-i-mens-swimming-and-diving-championship","tag-thomas-heilman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nThomas Heilman Overcame Family Tragedy for Fine First NCAAs<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thomas Heilman performed well at the NCAA Championships, helping Virginia to a top-10 finish just one month after his mother's death.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/thomas-heilman-overcame-family-tragedy-for-fine-first-ncaa-performance\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thomas Heilman Overcame Family Tragedy for Fine First NCAA Performance\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thomas Heilman performed well at the NCAA Championships, helping Virginia to a top-10 finish just one month after his mother's death.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/thomas-heilman-overcame-family-tragedy-for-fine-first-ncaa-performance\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Swimming World\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SwimmingWorld\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-30T13:16:00+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/vmrw8k5h.tinifycdn.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/thomas-heilman-2026-Mens-NCAA-SD-Chps.-3015-Edit-scaled.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1920\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Rieder - 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