There was a time during Jack Reichenbach’s senior year when he wasn’t sure if he would even make it to the state track and field championships. Then there was a time he felt like he could not only get there, but also win a pair of gold medals.

In the end, his final result was somewhere in the middle. The Salisbury senior recovered from a winter knee injury in just enough time to have one more successful track season. He capped his last season with a pair of top-four finishes last weekend at Shippensburg Univeristy’s Seth Grove Stadium, the venue for the annual PIAA Track and Field Championships.

Reichenbach started the meet with a fourth place in long jump by getting out to 21 feet, 5 ½ inches.

While he was pleased to earn a medal and move up a couple places from last year’s sixth-place finish, he also knew he could have jumped even better.

“I’m upset with how I jumped,” said Reichenbach. “I thought I was slower today than I had been. Maybe it was the headwind. Speed was my problem.”

He was back in action last Friday warming up for high jump minutes after accepting his medal for the long jump.

He cleared 6-4 for third place in long jump, which was several inches short of his goal. He cleared 6-8 at the league meet less than three weeks before states.

“It’s always awesome just to get a medal at the state meet,” he said. “I like to shoot for the stars. I was going for two golds today and I didn’t get one.”

It wasn’t too long ago Reichenbach wasn’t sure he’d even make it to states. He suffered a knee injury in basketball season and rehabbed hard to be ready for track season.

He was able to jump by the opening of track practice in March, but it took until late April for him to get back to where he was during his junior season.

“As the season went on I started to jump a little better and I knew I had a chance of getting better for states,” he said. “Leagues when I got 22-8 ½ (in long jump) and 6-8 (in high jump), that was really when I was like ‘I can go for golds this year.’

“To me it’s amazing that I tore something in my knee four months ago and now I’m at the state meet. I’m just happy that I’m able to jump. The season was up and down. Luckily I got healthy when I had to.”

Reichenbach was one of three Salisbury athletes to earn a trip to Ship this year.

Junior Shane Artis, who was a cross country state qualifier in fall, took 17th place in the state in the 1600-meter run. He posted a time of 4:37.95 to improve on his seed time from districts (4:38.31).

Falcon freshman Melena Koutch also competed at states, placing 28th in triple jump at 33-1 ¼. Salisbury Township School District resident Bobby Kulp also competed at states. In his first year at Bethlehem Catholic, Kulp earned Eastern Pennsylvania and District 11 Class 3A medals in high jump to earn a trip to the state championships.

At states, Kulp cleared 6-4 to tie for 10th place.