After securing one Baldwin individual swimming record last year, junior swimmer Evan Stokes feels the hunger for more. 

Last year, as a sophomore, Stokes set the record in the 100 meter breaststroke. He said he had  been confident he could do it, but was still surprised when he looked up at the board to see his finishing time. 

“I remember looking for another swimmer at the wall, but everyone was still at the other end,” he said. 

Stokes is looking forward to breaking his own record this year, and he thinks he has a chance to break school records in the 200 meter freestyle and the individual medley this year.

“But in the long run I want to break all of the individual records,” he said. 

Stokes is inspired by his brother, Dylan, who was also a swimmer at Baldwin and holds the school record in the 50 meter freestyle.

“My brother and I are very competitive, and he and I always make bets about whether I will set more records, so he definitely motivates me to get better,” Stokes said. 

He said he also is inspired to swim by Shaine Casas, an American professional swimmer who has broken several records in the same events that Stokes races. 

But Stokes said he is most excited this season about competing with his team.

“I know we have a lot of room to improve and hopefully we can perform well at championships this year,” he said. 

Stokes’ success inspires his teammates to be better as well.

“Evan inspires me to be a better swimmer and shoot for WPIALs in my future,” sophomore Spencer Maist said.

Not only does Stokes make the team better, but they have fun outside of the pool too. 

“My best memory with Evan is riding the bus home after the last swim meet. We listened to music together and had a lot of fun,” Maist said. 

Another one of his teammates, junior Dylan Lubarski, said Stokes is one of the hardest workers on the team, which motivates him to work harder himself. 

“He doesn’t take a lot of rest on the wall. He keeps going through the whole set and motivates others,” Lubarski said. “If I see him going faster than me, I try to work to be next to or in front of him.” 

Stokes has big goals to continue swimming after high school, too.

“I definitely want to try to swim at a D1 college, both for the scholarship opportunities and because it is one of my biggest interests,” he said.