Five different Salisbury male swimmers earned medals at last year’s state meet, including two relay teams and two swimmers. But all of those swimmers have graduated, leaving a new era at Salisbury that will begin in December.

State champion swimmers Mahlon Reihman, who is now on the team at Harvard Universtiy, and Daniel Bonge lead a list of graduates from last year’s team. Reihman took first in the 200-yard freestyle and second in the 100-yard freestyle, while Bonge earned gold in the 100-yard butterfly and also medalled in the 100-yard backstroke.

Tyler Keller, who won the silver medal in diving at the PIAA Championships, is also gone and now diving at Lehigh University. AJ Oliver and Ben Wiener, members of the relay teams that earned a medal, won’t be at disposal this winter either.

“[Our biggest adjustment is] just coming off of a senior-laden state championship quality team, to a young core of swimmers who are really enthusiastic about making a name for themselves,” head coach Patrick O’Connor said. “The girls lost only one senior and have depth that I’ve not seen in the past two seasons.”

The boys return a bit of talent from a season ago, which includes seniors Tim Sechler-Stone, Tyler Sechler-Stone, Joseph Oravec and Eric Fonseca. Tim Sechler-Stone could be the team’s top returning swimmer, and O’Connor believes a chance to qualify for states.

O’Connor also sees a number of newcomers who have the ability to contribute immediately, including freshman Baxter Reihman (Mahlon’s brother). Cole Warmkessel and Shane Artis are both cross country runners in their first years in the pool, but have a chance to do special things.

“[We have to get] our non-year-round swimmers swim fit as soon as possible,” O’Connor said. “Many members of our team use swimming as a way to stay fit for their spring and summer sports, so it usually takes a few weeks for them to get there.”

While it might take the boys some time to get ‘swim fit’ in the upcoming weeks, the girls might be able to get to that level more quickly. Brooke Rogers is the only graduate from last year’s team, while the rest return looking to have a successful season.

Sarah Bobeck continues to improve each year, and finished 2017 with two top-25 finishes in the 200- and 500-yard freestyles at states. She’ll be the leader of this group over the winter months.

“Tim [Sechler-Stone] has progressed each and every year, and he has a good chance to qualify for states,” O’Connor said. “Sarah has done the same and wants to build upon her district championship in the 500 freestyle.”

Madaket Chassard and Ruby Wiener are back and provide plenty of depth for the girls’ side, more depth than O’Connor has ever seen in his three seasons at the helm. Freshmen Eliza Wiener, Julia Graver and Kerry Seiler will contribute to that depth.

Nearly all of the swimmers that made the trip to Bucknell University last season for states have graduated. Bobeck is the only returning state participant.

But O’Connor doesn’t have any plans of only bringing one swimmer back to Bucknell this season. He sees the possibility to bring numerous swimmers across the board.

“[Our goal is to have] a winning record and to qualify every swimmer for an event at districts,” O’Connor said. “And to have at least one boy and one girl individually qualify for states, and at least one relay team qualify for states.”