Two Salisbury swimmers were crowned state swimming champions last week at Bucknell University’s Kinney Natatorium. One was almost expected. The other was a bit of a surprise.

Both Mahlon Reihman and Daniel Bonge rode back to the Lehigh Valley with gold medals around their necks and helped their team to third place with one event left in this year’s PIAA Swimming and Diving Championships.

Reihman captured his third consecutive state gold medal in the 100-yard freestyle last Thursday, touching the wall in 1:39.38. Bonge secured his state gold with the top finish in the 100-yard butterfly. His time of 49.94 eclipsed his seed time by nearly a full second.

“We had strong showings all around,” Reihman said. “We had Daniel Bonge come out of nowhere and take the 100 butterfly; we couldn’t be happier for him. I was thrilled to get my third title in a row for the 200-yard freestyle. It’s not quite the time I was looking for, but I was literally swimming back-to-back, which is very difficult. Given the circumstances I was happy with it.”

Reihman’s gold-medal performance in the 100-yard freestyle was immediately after the Falcon boys’ 200-yard medley relay team raced to a fourth-place finish in 1:37.68. So, while he would have liked a faster time, he couldn’t complain knowing the challenge in front of him.

“I try always looking forward and look at the events I have control over,” Reihman said. “It’s definitely something very different; it’s something that is a challenge to address. I was really frustrated for a day or two. But then I realized you know what, states is still going to happen and we still have to swim as fast as we can and give it our all.”

Bonge followed with his best career performance in the 100-yard butterfly, out-touching Derry Area’s Zach Baum by .11 seconds. His time was the only sub 50-second finish in the Class 2A event.

Bonge also placed seventh in the 100-yard backstroke in 51.99 seconds on Friday. He also swam a leg in both relay teams (the other being the 400-yard freestyle relay that captured silver) on Day 2 of competition. Reihman, AJ Oliver and Ben Wiener teamed up with Bonge in those relays.

Reihman also took second place in the 100-yard freestyle in a battle of Lehigh Valley swimmers that has blossomed over the years. Friend and Central Catholic senior Gabe Castano (44.78) edged Reihman (45.29) in the duo’s final high school meeting in its friendly rivalry.

“That’s the best time for me by quite a few…I was really happy with the time,” Reihman said. “It was me and him to the finish at the last 50, so kudos to him.

“Gabe has had a stellar season. Both of us have had best times by a significant amount right there. I couldn’t be happier for him…I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up facing each other again in the future.”

Reihman had a sense from the beginning that, just maybe, this was the year Castano got the better of Reihman in the event. He was right.

“It’s tough to know that from the get-go, but he had great, great front-end speed,” Reihman said. “I saw that right around the first 25 turn. He was right there. He brought it out fast and furious. That’s what you have to do in the 100 [freestyle].”

Rounding out the male swimmers at states were Wiener, who placed 25th in the 200-yard freestyle, and Oliver, who finished the 50-yard freestyle in 29th place.

Sarah Bobeck was the lone Falcon female participant at states, and the sophomore capped a successful season against Pennsylvania’s top talent. She placed 24th in the 500-yard freestyle and 25th in the 200-yard freestyle.

The PIAA Diving Championships will be held this weekend, with Class 2A getting underway on Saturday back at Bucknell. Salisbury’s Tyler Keller will compete as the District 11 champ.

Salisbury heads into the event in third place with 133 points. The Falcons trail first-place Grove City (175) and Erie’s Cathedral Prep (161.5), so even with a first-place finish in diving, which yields 16 points, the Falcons will not be able to move up.