Caeden Amorim had a game plan and he followed it.

The plan worked and it resulted in a gold medal in the 100-yard breaststroke Saturday at the District 11 Swimming and Diving Championships.

Amorim’s 28.15-second first lap kept him just off the lead of East Stroudsburg North’s Logan Cruz. Then a 32.10 in the final 50 yards was fast enough to get the Salisbury High School sophomore past Cruz and into the wall nearly half a second faster in 1:00.61 with Cruz in second place at 1:01.02.

“I’ve been practicing that race a lot,” he said. “I knew I had to go out fast and if I was with the rest of the pack I could take it at the end. It’s been a lot of work. It’s a long process.

“I knew if I put in the work the first 50, I’d get it the second 50.”

Amorim also finished second in the 200 individual medley at districts with a time of 2:02.76.

He was one of several medal-winning performances for Falcon swimmers at the meet.

Salisbury senior Phoebe Ballek placed second in 200 freestyle in 1:57.85 and second in 500 free in 5:23.24 at districts.

The 200 was a season-best time for Ballek.

“I’m happy about that.” Ballek said. “My goal coming into this was to try to get some season bests.”

While her 500 time didn’t match her goal, she’s excited and optimistic that her time will get her to her fourth straight state championship meet.

“I’m happy with it,” she said. “It wasn’t my goal, but I swam it and I finished it and I’m probably going to qualify for states with that time. And I got a medal, so I’m happy about it.”

Medals went to the top four finishers in each event at districts.

Senior Olivia Amorim earned a pair of individual medals at districts, taking third place in the 200 freestyle in 1:58.25 and third in breaststroke in 1:08.74.

Olivia Amorim will also wait to see if her times qualify for the state championships. District champs earn automatic qualification to states. Other swimmers’ times from districts are compared to times from district meets around the state with the fastest filling in the field for the state championships.

Ballek and Amorim were part of two relay teams that finished third at districts.

They swam the 200 freestyle relay with senior teammates Samantha Conrad and Meredith Kelley in 1:47.12. The 400 freestyle relay team of Ballek, Kelley, Olivia Amorim and sophomore Rachel McKevley swam a time of 3:54.42 for third-place medals.

Freshman Xavier Reihman also picked up a medal for the Falcons, taking fourth place in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:49.82. He also placed eighth in 100 freestyle in 50.10.

Reihman and Caeden Amorim were part of a pair of Falcon relay teams that both finished seventh at districts, with seniors Emerson Juhasz and Rafael Carpo joining them on both teams. The 200-yard freestyle relay finished in 1:38.19, while the 400 free relay touched the wall in 3:37.52.

The third Salisbury boys relay team was 11th in medley relay in 2:15.07. That foursome included freshmen Connor Geoghegan and Joshua Knecht, Carpo and sophomore Isaac Mokua.

Salisbury’s girls medley relay finished ninth with the foursome of Conrad, senior Gwyn DeFazio, McKelvey and junior Lydia Fogel.

Other Salisbury finishers at districts include DeFazio (9th in breaststroke in 1:21.25; 21st in 50 free in 29.32), Kelley (10th in 200 free in 2:13.78; 11th in 500 free in 6:03.09), McKelvey (12th butterfly in 1:13.31; 24th in 50 free in 30.24), senior Soledad Lausch (13th in butterfly in 1:13.93), Fogel (13th in 200 free in 2:25.20; 13th in 500 free in 6:25.30), Conrad (13th in backstroke in 1:14.75; 22nd in 50 free in 29.33), Juhasz (14th in backstroke in 1:04.59; 15th in 50 free in 24.35) and Carpo (16th in 200 free 2:35.97).

Nine Salisbury seniors swam in their last district meet last weekend, with most of them marking the end of four-year careers with the team.

“When I started as assistant coach it was their freshman year,” said second-year head coach Annie Purtell. “It’s definitely been great to see them grow. Some of them I coach all three seasons in cross country, swimming and track. It is definitely bittersweet. Their all amazing leaders.”

Blue Mountain won girls team title at districts with Tamaqua second and Moravian Academy third

Southern Lehigh won the boys team title with Blue Mountain and Central Catholic in the next two places.

Salisbury finished fifth out of 11 teams in the boys meet and was seventh out of 12 teams in the girls meet.

“They did awesome this weekend, a lot of [personal records],” said Purtell. “All of the relays had crazy drops. I think that’s the fastest we’ve had the 400 free relays.”