Making a splash
By MATT TUNSETH For the FrontiersmanPublished on Monday, September 15, 2008 10:10 PM AKDT WASILLA —
Frontiersman Matt Hanley, a former swimming standout at Lathrop High School and the University of Alaska Anchorage, is now at the helm of a re-energized Wasilla High School swimming program.“I’d love to see swimming be the popular sport at Wasilla,” the first-year Warriors head coach said during a poolside interview last week.
While swimming often gets overlooked among the more popular fall sports, the tatooed 29-year-old said he believes that the right combination of success and enthusiasm can change that attitude in Wasilla. Hanley’s Wasilla team this year should have no trouble helping him out. The Warriors showed they’ve got a powerful team in the season-opening Homer Invitational two weeks ago, beating eight other teams to win the team title. Wasilla has followed that with a tri-meet win over East Anchorage and Eagle River.“We’ve got a good start,” Hanley said. “The energy’s incredible.”
Though this is his first year at Wasilla, Hanley, a 1997 Lathrop High graduate, is no stranger to the Valley. He’s also the head coach of the Northern Lights Swim Club in the Valley, and last year he served as an assistant at Palmer High. He’s also coached at Bartlett and Service, and as a competitive swimmer he set multiple state records before swimming collegiately for UAA.Between coaching two swim teams, Hanley admitted he doesn’t have much time for anything outside the pool.“All I do is coach,” he said.
Hanley’s enthusiasm for swimming may be eclipsed only by his team. He said that when he found out there was an opening at WHS, he was initially on the fence about taking on the added responsibility. But after talking with team members, he said he felt like something big was about to happen in Wasilla.“The boys won me over,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of heart, a lot of emotion, and I wanted to be a part of that. They have some high goals,” Hanley said. “We’d like to put a lot of energy into state this year as a team and see where we compare with the rest of the field.”While the Warriors are strong at the top, Hanley said he’s also hoping to see his other swimmers make big improvements during the season.“We just try to make everybody as strong as possible, make sure that they realized it’s not just the top four boys. It’s everybody. That’s extremely important at Regions. Regions is more of a numbers game, where those third, fourth, fifth places really make the meet,” he said.
With a dream lineup of solid athletes and enthusiastic coaches, Hanley said he’s happy with how the season has started — and excited to see where the Warriors end up.“Our goal is to get everything to come together at the end,” he said.
By MATT TUNSETH For the FrontiersmanPublished on Monday, September 15, 2008 10:10 PM AKDT WASILLA —
Frontiersman Matt Hanley, a former swimming standout at Lathrop High School and the University of Alaska Anchorage, is now at the helm of a re-energized Wasilla High School swimming program.“I’d love to see swimming be the popular sport at Wasilla,” the first-year Warriors head coach said during a poolside interview last week.
While swimming often gets overlooked among the more popular fall sports, the tatooed 29-year-old said he believes that the right combination of success and enthusiasm can change that attitude in Wasilla. Hanley’s Wasilla team this year should have no trouble helping him out. The Warriors showed they’ve got a powerful team in the season-opening Homer Invitational two weeks ago, beating eight other teams to win the team title. Wasilla has followed that with a tri-meet win over East Anchorage and Eagle River.“We’ve got a good start,” Hanley said. “The energy’s incredible.”
Though this is his first year at Wasilla, Hanley, a 1997 Lathrop High graduate, is no stranger to the Valley. He’s also the head coach of the Northern Lights Swim Club in the Valley, and last year he served as an assistant at Palmer High. He’s also coached at Bartlett and Service, and as a competitive swimmer he set multiple state records before swimming collegiately for UAA.Between coaching two swim teams, Hanley admitted he doesn’t have much time for anything outside the pool.“All I do is coach,” he said.
Hanley’s enthusiasm for swimming may be eclipsed only by his team. He said that when he found out there was an opening at WHS, he was initially on the fence about taking on the added responsibility. But after talking with team members, he said he felt like something big was about to happen in Wasilla.“The boys won me over,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of heart, a lot of emotion, and I wanted to be a part of that. They have some high goals,” Hanley said. “We’d like to put a lot of energy into state this year as a team and see where we compare with the rest of the field.”While the Warriors are strong at the top, Hanley said he’s also hoping to see his other swimmers make big improvements during the season.“We just try to make everybody as strong as possible, make sure that they realized it’s not just the top four boys. It’s everybody. That’s extremely important at Regions. Regions is more of a numbers game, where those third, fourth, fifth places really make the meet,” he said.
With a dream lineup of solid athletes and enthusiastic coaches, Hanley said he’s happy with how the season has started — and excited to see where the Warriors end up.“Our goal is to get everything to come together at the end,” he said.
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