When Lansdowne High's Collin Murphy was on the soccer or lacrosse field he was counted on by his coaches to perform multiple duties and he was comfortable doing them.
But, on the wrestling mat is where he had to work harder to succeed and finally, in his senior season, he did just that.
His accomplishments in all three sports earned him selection at the Arbutus Times male Athlete of the Year.
George Dunn coached the 2015 Lansdowne High graduate in soccer and wrestling and saw him mature into a leader in both sports in his senior year.
"When he commits himself to something and wants to go do it, he can do pretty well," Dunn said. "He's a good athlete. He decided he wanted to win this year in wrestling and he came out working hard."
He went 11-1 in dual meets during the regular season and placed second in the Overlea Invitational, fourth in the Franklin Invitational and sixth in the County/City Conference tournament.
"It took him a while to prove himself to me in wrestling," Dunn said. "I'm proud of him. Before the season, I said, 'You are either in or you are out. There is no halfway.'"
He turned out to be the team's Most Valuable Player and produced a 22-11 overall record wrestling at 170 pounds.
Murphy wrestled up one weight class higher than he did during his junior year when he only competed in a handful of matches because he was in the same weight class as standout wrestler Romario Orellano.
Orellano and senior classmates Mauricio Franco and Russell Seeney-Cunningham were leaders on the 2014 squad and their leadership rubbed off on Murphy.
"They beat up on him pretty good, but he grew tremendously from that," Dunn said. "The maturity level wasn't there until his senior year."
With only four seniors on the varsity wrestling team, Dunn knew Murphy had to embrace his new role.
"He wanted to be a leader and I kind of challenged him, 'How do you want to be remembered? Do you want to be remembered as a guy who flamed out, or as a guy who gave it all you had no matter how you finished," Dunn said.
On the mat Murphy's tenacity and constant energy were keys to his success.
"Once he started wrestling, he was non-stop coming after you," Dunn said. He was very aggressive and he wouldn't stop and that beats a lot of kids."
He used that same energy on the soccer field where he was an All-County First Team stopper during his junior and senior seasons.
"He could have played any position, but he helped us out most at stopper," Dunn said. "He's smart, has good vision and a lot of hustle. He really is a talented soccer player."
Murphy hopes to walk-on to the soccer team at Salisbury University in the fall.
Although he was steady all season at the top of the defense, Dunn was immensely impressed with his effort in the Vikings' 1-0 win over Patterson in the regional semifinals, which was their eighth victory in a row.
"He had a couple big time saves when the goalie got out of position and the ball was coming in and he came slide tackling across," Dunn said. "It was fun to watch. If he made a mistake he could recover with pure hustle."
He was also named the 11-4 soccer team's Most Valuable Player.
"He was a leader on the field for sure in soccer," Dunn said. "In wrestling, he stepped up at the end and he ended up becoming a leader. It was something that was foreign to him because he had been playing soccer since he was five years old and he was only wrestling a couple years."
His leadership on the lacrosse field came from his ability to score and he did that at an alarming rate.
In three years as a varsity attackman he scored 134 points with 95 goals and 39 assists.
He led the Vikings in scoring with 33 goals and 10 assists in his senior year.
"I could have put him at any position offensively or defensively and I think he would have been fine, but he was a natural lefty and we needed a lefty attackman and he had the best shot out of all the guys," coach Tyler Martin said. "Obviously, with his scoring record he has done pretty well."
Murphy got off to a sizzling start with 12 goals in his first three games.
"He was the go-to guy, especially early in the season," Martin said.
"We needed him to score goals when we needed to win and he came through in a lot of those games," Martin said.
In one tough 9-5 loss to Sparrows Point, Murphy had four goals and one assist and narrowly missed a few more goals.
"He hit the pipe probably four or five more times," Martin said.
In three seasons, he also collected 214 ground balls.
"If the ball hit the ground in the offensive end of the field he was usually in the mix or he came up with it," Martin said.
He earned First Team All-Division honors in both his junior and senior seasons and played in the Baltimore County senior all-star game.
"I don't think there was another attackman in our division that was better than him, except maybe the kid from New Town," Martin said. "He really was the facilitator of our offense. He made everything go."
In addition to excelling in three sports, Murphy was also prom king and he did the school's morning announcements.
"He made the most out of his high school career," Dunn said.