Heaton (13), a pupil at John McGlashan College, has made quite a dent in the record books in the past few months, but his feet are firmly on the ground.
In June, Heaton broke the 1500m freestyle record set by Rhys Applegarth in 2004 by 2.63sec with a time of 17min 1.75secThis month, he broke Sam Caradus' 15-year-old short course 800m freestyle record from 1997 by 2.2sec, in a time of 8min 55.40sec.
Heaton travelled with the team to Timaru two weeks ago and broke his own 1500m record by a further 5.32sec, going under 17min for the first time, in 16min 56.43sec.
He said breaking the long-standing records was a "pretty cool feeling", but he had been focused on them for a while.
"I have had them in the back of my head. I kind of looked at the start of the year and saw that I was close and decided I was going to break it and all the hard work paid off," he said.
Heaton began competitive swimming under current coach Andy Adair in 2009 and is now part of the Waves youth training squad, where he trains eight sessions a week, five in the morning and three in the afternoon.
At 13, he was not bothered about the amount of dedication needed, believing it was essential, as with any sport.
"It's something you need to do, to be the best."
Being able to get into to a rhythm in long distance races was what Heaton said he preferred most, something he had learnt from recent team-mate Troy Balvert.
"It's easier, just fitting into the rhythm and churning out the 100s.
"It is cool in the way he [Troy] trains and then just goes fast. It is good how the big guys help you along."
Coach Andy Adair said he was pleased with how Heaton had coped with the increase in aerobic-based training and highlighted his strong determination to perform well.
"He is a very good listener and is very good technically.
"He reminds me of Troy [Balvert]. He loves to train and is conscious of his last performance."
Heaton will now turn his focus to the forthcoming New Zealand short course championships in Wellington next month, before careful planning towards his aspirations for the Olympic Games in 2020 and Commonwealth Games in 2022
Name: Thomas Heaton.
Age: 13.
School: John McGlashan College.
Achievements: Broke Otago 1500m, 800m freestyle records.
