Winning two medals, including a gold, at the highest level of high school swimming is nothing to scoff at. That’s the feat that Salisbury’s Mahlon Reihman accomplished in just his second year of high school when he was one of the top two swimmers at states in his individual events.

But with the postseason quickly approaching for his junior season, Reihman wants even more.

“I guess the big goal is to come home with two golds,” Reihman said. “That’s kind of been the big goal ever since I touched the wall in the 100 freestyle and saw second place up there. It’s a great feeling to even take second at states, but you always want more. To come home with two golds would be awesome.”

Reihman was edged out by a slim margin of six one-hundredths of a second in the 100 freestyle at states last year. That left a sour taste in his mouth even though he captured silver on the podium.

And with another regular season under his belt, Reihman seems to be on a similar pace. Or, according to Reihman himself, an even faster one as he enters districts which are set for March 5.

The junior has already broken three Salisbury pool records this season at KidsPeace Broadway. Two have come in events he is extremely familiar with in the 100 and 200 freestyles. The other is in the 200 IM, which he has also swam a lot of this year under head coach Patrick O’Connor due to the number of swimmers at Salisbury.

“In terms of my in-season times from last year and previous years, I’m much, much faster,” Reihman said. “Personally as a swimmer, I tend to drop a lot of time. I’ve had the second-fastest time in the 100 regularly. And some of my off events have been strong, like my 200 IM.

“I’ve pretty much been everywhere; I have swam every event this year. Because we don’t really have anyone on the team that can swim the 200 IM, I’ve swam that a lot, probably more than a lot of other things.”

Regardless of what events he is swimming, Reihman seems to be hitting his stride when it matters most for swimmers. A number of factors could be playing into his historic season.

For one, Reihman, who is currently just a tad under 6-foot-6, continues to grow and make his presence known as one of the area’s tallest swimmers. In addition to practicing with Salisbury throughout the week, he swims with Parkland Aquatic Club as well where he faces tougher competition to push him on a daily basis.

And while this is Reihman’s third head coach in as many seasons, he has learned a lot from O’Connor that has pushed his sprint events to another level.

“Coach O’Connor is really big on short swimming and fast swimming,” Reihman said. “So kind of getting the most out of practices-tons of sprinting, short rests and race space all of the time. I’ve seen my sprinting do much better, especially in the 50-freestyle.”

The Salisbury boys may have only one win this season, a complete 180-degree turn from finishing unbeaten in Reihman’s freshman season, but there have been plenty of individual success across the board.

“Individually, kids are swimming really, really well,” Reihman said. “I’ve been swimming probably the best I’ve ever swam this season. And another kid, Daniel Bonge, he’s swimming out of his mind. Ben Weiner has been doing well. We don’t have the numbers to really win enough meets, which is frustrating. But in swimming a lot of it is individual, especially in high school.”

With districts a week-and-a-half away, Reihman’s focus will be on the 100 and 200 freestyle events once again. This time, however, he’ll look to leave Bucknell University with two gold medals instead of one.

Looking ahead even further, Reihman doesn’t shy away from setting lofty goals for himself in 2017.

“Looking at my senior year, I want to break the state record [in the 200 freestyle]. That’s kind of my goal.”

Reihman and the Falcons will compete in the District 11 Class 2A championships on March 4-5. The event opens this weekend with diving on Saturday.