Perfect timing

PALMER --Serving in the military, Fred McKenney became accustomed to making sudden moves -- changing the place he calls home in just a matter of days. Sometimes that does not change, even when the military service ends.

McKenney now knows that.

After starting the school year and the 2004 wrestling season with Kotzebue High School, McKenney will finish each at Colony High School.

"On a Friday I was teaching in Kotzebue and the following Monday I was teaching at Colony," McKenney said.

The former Kotzebue teacher and head coach of the Kotzebue wrestling team is the newest teacher at CHS and the new head coach of the Knight wrestling

squad.

McKenney didn't necessarily leave the far north community of Kotzebue for the Mat-Su area just for the Knight wrestling job. During his time in the military, McKenney suffered a back injury and doctors have recommended that he live close to a veterans hospital. McKenney preferred to stay in Alaska and with a veterans hospital in Anchorage, he jumped at the Colony job when it became a possibility.

"It's good timing," McKenney said. "This is a wonderful school, wonderful administration -- I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity."

McKenney heard of the opportunity through a former colleague, Jason Mabry, who is now at CHS. By coincidence Colony had a teaching position that needed to be filled and a need for help with the wrestling program.

"We're really fortunate -- Fred's top notch," Colony assistant principal Randy Merrill said. "Ninety-nine percent of the people in the wrestling community in this state know Fred McKenney."

McKenney, who served at the helm of the Kotzebue wrestling program for six seasons, felt it was an appropriate time to leave the school and took advantage of the opportunity.

McKenney came to Colony with 34 years of coaching experience in the sport of wrestling. In just a matter of weeks, he has helped rejuvenate a Knight grappling program that has struggled in recent years. Annually the Knights have a wrestler or two that will vie for a state title, but haven't had great numbers from the team standpoint. Last season Colony finished the season with just eight wrestlers. McKenney said his primary goal is to stimulate interest in the sport and draw Colony student-athletes to the wrestling mat.

"(Colony) has had a lot of coaches in just a very short time," McKenney said. "Coaches have done a great job ahead of me, but it has been very hard to get a program together.

"I plan on being here."

McKenney said Colony currently has 46 wrestlers on the roster this season, a number that includes veterans Dustin Killian, Hollan Gravely and Dominick Bellotte -- each of whom will compete for a state title.

Merrill said the addition of McKenney combined with the success of the wrestling programs at the middle school level -- programs such Teeland Middle School and Colony Middle School -- will allow Colony to grow into a state power in the sport.