Coltin Deery: University of Maryland Football and Wrestling

Throughout Coltin’s Malvern experience, there have been many people who have greatly impacted him both in sports and at home. “At Malvern people like Coach Gueriera, Coach Lautar, and Coach Carroll have impacted me most. They always push me to make myself better. At home, it’s my dad, he has always been my role model as he always wants what’s best for me and has helped me so much along this journey,” he said. Before committing to the University of Maryland, Coltin had to narrow down many offers from top schools. “While my other top choices were Cincinnati, Princeton, East Carolina, Tulane, and many other schools, I chose Maryland because I believe in the way the program is rising and how close it is to home, so my family can come to watch,” Coltin said. Being able to play football, wrestle, and graduate with a degree is what sealed the deal for Coltin. “They gave me the opportunity to play football and wrestle at the next level. I want to graduate from Maryland with a degree in Architectural Engineering as Maryland’s program is a well known school for this major,” he stated. Lastly Coltin would like to thank his fellow brothers for welcoming him to Malvern and anyone who has helped him along this journey. “Go Terps!”

Ryan Durkan:  USMA at West Point Swimming

Since Ryan has been young, he has been inspired by people like Malvern Swim coach, Mr. Schiller, and his mother. “I wouldn’t even be here without Mr. Schiller, not only for swimming, but I would have never come to Malvern. I was at Westtown and I wanted to swim for Mr. Schiller again because he’s the one that taught me to swim when I was younger,” Ryan stated. “My number one fan is my mom, she’s always helped me. She’s been like a driving force and has made sure to keep me motivated in everything I do.” Verbally committing to USMA at West Point was the easy part, but West Point required much more from Ryan. “It was easy to do the verbal commitment, then I just needed to fulfill all the qualifications. The whole process of getting into the school was brutal. I had to do interviews with senators and with the House of Representatives. I had a lot of stuff that took a really long time,” he said. After committing back in August, the requirements took about 7 months to fulfill. “I think it was like the last day of August that I wanted to go to West Point, and it was probably just like a month ago that I got my acceptance,” Ryan said. After a long commitment process, Ryan would like to give some advice to students: “Anybody that’s looking to apply to any of the academies, I’m happy to help out, I know that it’s a tough process. If you want to apply to Army, definitely reach out to me and if you want to apply to Navy, reach out to me, but I’ll bully you a little bit.”