Whitehall High School swimmers, Alexus Merkert, Grace Sullivan, and Dan Jablonski swam district qualifying times during their meet against Liberty last Tuesday when the Hurricane girls defeated the Zephyr girls 218-87, and the Hurricane boys defeated the Zephyr boys 221-65.

Merkert came in third in the 100 butterfly with a time of 1:04.38, and Sullivan placed fifth in the same event with a time of 1:07.26.

Jablonski surprised the Hurricanes in the 200 free, taking first place with a time of 1:54.62, almost 5 seconds better than the second place finisher from Liberty.

“It’s definitely a compliment. Liberty is one of the best schools in the league,” Jablonski said. “I dropped time, but it wasn’t my best. I was lacking around the second hundred.”

Jablonski also took first place in the 500 free with a time of 5:05.33, over 21 seconds better than Liberty’s second place finisher.

“When you’re swimming the 500, you have to think about it. It’s ironic because I had asthma when I was younger, but I’ve been training since I was younger too,” he said.

Jablonski swam the first lap of the 400 free relay in which the Zephyrs came in second.

“The first 100 was close,” said Jablonski.

Also swimming the 400 free relay were Jordan Rivera, Hisham Hamada, and Nate Dolan.

In the 200 free relay, Jack Yadush, Ziyad Khafagy, Felix Figueroa, and Michael Haggerty took second place.

Second place was also won by Zephyr girls Martha Giletto, Madison Lyle, Caroline Martin, and Michaela Hendricks in the 400 free relay.

Regarding the Christmas-New Year’s break, Jablonski said, “I’m sure everyone’s not excited for winter break practices, but if everyone wants to get better, we can’t take two weeks off.”