Whitehall swimmer Aaron Stinner decided it was time to claim the 200 IM school record for once and for all, so the Zephyr junior put on a tech suit and seized the moment with a time of 2:02.30 on Jan. 31 at Easton High School.

“I missed it last week by .1, and that really frustrated me, and even Daniel Jablonski reached out to me, and he was like, ‘Oh, you’re so close,’ so it felt really good to get it today,” Stinner said.

Jablonski held the now previous record with a time of 2:03.11 set in 2018.

“I reached up, and I heard the whole sideline of our team cheering, so I figured I must’ve gotten it,” said Stinner. “I knew this meet would be competitive, so I knew I’d have some good competition, and I just let it all out and was really happy with it. I can’t wait to swim some other events suited up to try and get some best times just like today. I’m kind of viewing it as a checklist right now, so I’m glad to cross that one off.”

Stinner, along with Ian Thomas, Alex Madden, and Andrew Deutsch, was off to a good start, winning the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:46.89 to open the meet against the Red Rovers. The 200 IM was four events later.

“He’s been working pretty hard. It was a good record. He was giving it some time to go after it, and it came together today,” said Whitehall coach Pete Rile. “Easton’s a good team with some good competitors, and I think sometimes that’s the hard part- if you don’t have somebody next to you, pushing you to do it, it generally doesn’t happen. You’ve got to have that excitement, it’s gotta be somebody you don’t know, but he’s been learning from it when he’s been swimming it, and that’s the whole key.”

Stinner led in the 200 IM from start to finish.

“He’s an experienced enough swimmer that he knows himself what it is (that clinched the record),” Rile said. “Can we see things? Yes. We thought his splits were good. We thought his backstroke was good. I thought his breaststroke looked even stronger going into the second part of it, and then, with (assistant coach) Dave (Seeloff) and the kids yelling and screaming on that last lap, it looked like he even took it up one more notch.”

Stinner’s second individual event victory on Tuesday came in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:00.01.

Thomas also won two individual events for the Zephyrs: the 50 free in 22.36 and the 100 breaststroke in 1:02.84.

In the 200 free relay, it appeared that Gabe O’Brien, Madden, Gary Marrucci, and Kenny Dai combined to take first place after Marrucci gained significant ground in the race and Dai brought the win home, but the foursome were hit with a disqualification.

“The goal every time is to make up as much time as you can or get the lead bigger, so I think I did my job. I think everyone tried to,” Marrucci said. “Obviously, not being at home, it was a little weird, and I think that threw some people off, but I think it was a good relay.”

In girls events, Whitehall senior Neave Doyle was the lone winner for the Zephyrs, taking first place in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:06.88.

“Neave is probably our top (girls) prospect for making districts,” said Rile, who also noted Stinner and Thomas as qualifying for districts. “Then it’s a matter of how we’re gonna play the relays.”

Final scores on Tuesday were Easton girls 76 - Whitehall girls 25; Easton boys 69 - Whitehall boys 32.

The Zephyrs have two meets left in the regular season, traveling to Saucon Valley on Feb. 2 before hosting Moravian Academy on Feb. 10.

“They will be good ones for both boys and girls,” Rile said. “It’s a nice way to finish. Real competitive.”