Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm men's track and field team has brought another quality sprinter into the fold with the signing of Waverly High School's Kevin Malone to a national letter of intent. Malone will enroll this fall at Rio Grande and begin competing during the winter indoor season.

Malone considered it an honor to sign with Rio Grande. "Signing with Rio Grande is a great honor and privilege," he said. "I knew a little bit about the school and I knew that they had a good track coach."

He talked about the key factors that led him to sign with the RedStorm program. "The deciding factors in choosing Rio Grande were my education, a family feeling (at the school) and track," Malone said.

Malone plans to major in AYA Integrated Math Education.

Rio Grande head coach Bob Willey is pleased to have Malone as a part of the program. "Kevin is an outstanding young man, a very good student," Willey said. "He is one that is going to be in the honor's program and be in the honor's dorm, so we're very excited about that." 

"We're very excited to have him, I know his coach (Byron Green) said that he feels he hasn't reached his full potential yet and that his better days are ahead of him," Willey added. "We're looking forward to that as well."

Malone added that he considers himself a very dedicated and determined competitor. "My best assets as a runner are my work ethic and determination," he said. "I need to remind myself that there are times that I can't always win." 

He is an outstanding student and a quality runner who is expected to have an immediate impact on the program. "He's close to like a 3.7 student, I think 26 on the ACT, so he's an outstanding student and has a great personality," Willey said. "He's a sprinter, we need that, he's right around 11.1, 11.2 in the 100, he's like 22.8, 22.9 in the 200. He runs 51 in the 400, so we'll be able to plug him in to a lot of places, not only in individual events, but in relays, obviously he can help us there." 

His goal while at Rio Grande? "My ultimate goal as a competitor is to become the best person I can be and help others be great human beings," Malone said. 

Kevin is the son of Dawn Malone-Smith of Waverly.

Malone joins Myles Corcoran of Clinton-Massie High School as the men's track and field recruiting class for 2010-11. 

For more information on the Rio track and field program or any of the other athletic programs at the University of Rio Grande, please log onto www.rioredstorm.com.