Ms. Bethany Dewitt makes a splash as Malvern’s new head swim coach

Having only had two head coaches in the program’s history, DeWitt becomes the first female head coach and third head coach to lead the decades long Swimming and Diving team.

Whether she is in her office as a high school counselor or on the pool deck as head coach, DeWitt is always eager to help students succeed.  

Ms. Bethany DeWitt has taken the reins of Malvern’s Swimming and Diving team, replacing Malvern’s legendary swim coach, Mr. Jay Schiller, who has been with the team for twenty years. 

“I know the athletes and I know their families and I think having that support is going to put me in a really good position, and an easy transition since I’m not brand new coming into the school and I know how things run here,” DeWitt said. 

In her three years as an assistant coach, DeWitt has been around some of the most successful and seasoned coaches, working closely with Schiller and former head coach, Mr. Paul Hornsleth.

“I’ve learned a lot from both Mr. Schiller and Mr. Hornsleth, in the time that I’ve been working at Malvern, and knowing that I have their support is huge,” DeWitt said. 

No stranger to the sport, DeWitt has been swimming since she was seven years old and continued swimming through college at the University of Pittsburgh. There she set a team record and was named captain her senior year. 

“I loved [swimming] and put a lot of time into it. I was a distance swimmer, so it was a lot of time but it was a really wonderful experience,” she said. 

Now as a head coach, DeWitt enjoys helping younger swimmers achieve their goals. 

“I really like that I can give back to younger athletes in the same way that my coaches did for me,” DeWitt said. 

As Malvern Prep Swimming looks to win back the Inter-Ac title this year, team performance will be one of the biggest factors.

“We have a really strong team this year. We have really good depth, pretty much across the board in all of our events so it’ll be exciting to see how we can do as a team,” she said. 

DeWitt looks forward to a strong year bolstered by her past few years coaching alongside the experienced and winning Coach Schiller. 

DeWitt said Coach Schiller assured her, “You know what you’re doing and just kind of go with it.”