WHS coach leaves for Colony

PALMER — Matt Hanley is hoping his recent move will make two programs stronger.

Hanley, the former head coach of the Wasilla High swim team, was recently named head coach of the swimming program at Colony High. Hanley’s departure at Wasilla opened the door for former assistant Atali Smith, who has been named the new head coach of the Warriors.

Both Hanley and Smith coach local youth swimming programs, and Hanley said these moves give both coaches the chance to work with the same group of swimmers during both seasons.

“My club team feeds Palmer and Colony. This will give me an opportunity to work with my kids year-round,” said Hanley, head coach of the Palmer-based Northern Lights Swim Club — Mat-Su. “Getting out of the way gives (Atali) the chance to step as head coach (at Wasilla High).”

Smith, an assistant with the Warriors for five years and a 2003 graduate of Wasilla High, is also the head coach of the Wasilla Waves Swim Club.

Hanley will succeed Dawn Brettrager, the former longtime head coach of the CHS swim program. Brettrager retired following the 2011 season.

“After she retired, I did a lot of thinking,” Hanley said.

Hanley said he hopes the changes in leadership at both schools with help strengthen local swimming programs Valley-wide. The key, he said, is the chance to work with his Northern Lights Club swimmers at Colony. Hanley said he’s excited to see Smith have the chance to be the head coach of her Wasilla Waves athletes at Wasilla High.

“Her kids need to see her as the head coach, instead of working with me for three months and then going back to her,” Hanley said.

Hanley, a Lathrop graduate and former University of Alaska Anchorage swimmer, was named the head coach of the Warriors in 2008. His teams found immediate success. The Wasilla boys program — which featured athletes such as Jeff Frey, Charles Frey, Max Merriam and Christian Long — won the Region III title during Hanley’s first year as head coach. The Wasilla boys were also third at the state championships.

“It was a great time, an amazing time,” Hanley said of his time with the Warriors. “It started off with a lot of energy. We had the boys, the Four Horsemen, and took a shot at some big things.”

The Wasilla boys finished second in the Region III Championships in 2009.

“I definitely loved my time at Wasilla, loved the kids,” Hanley said.

After graduating from Lathrop High, Hanley was a scholarship swimmer at UAA for two years before the program was cut. During his time with the Seawolves, he qualified for the NCAA Division II National Championships twice and was named honorable mention All-American each year.

Hanley began coaching in 1999, and served as an assistant at Bartlett, Service and Palmer before he was named the head coach of the Warriors.

More coaches

hired at CHS

Hanley is one of a pair of former Wasilla High head coaches making the move to CHS. Justin Aulie, a teacher at Colony High, has been named the head coach of the Knights girls’ cross-country ski program.

Aulie, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Stout, had been the head coach of the Warriors ski team.

“Justin will be a good addition to our ski program,” CHS assistant principal Brendon McMahon said in a press release. “He has experience coaching both the boys and girls teams at Wasilla and we’re happy to have him coaching and teaching full time with the Knights.”

The Knights also named Stacy Strabel the girls’ cross-country running coach. Strabel was a full scholarship athlete in track and cross-country running at UAA. She was also on the Seawolves Nordic ski team for two years.

Last season, Strabel served as the interim coach of the girls’ team.

“Stacy filled in admirably last fall when the coaching position opened up just prior to the season,” CHS activities director Mike Boyd said in a press release. “We’re happy to get her back to work for another season as the leader of the girls’ program.”

Strabel is the wife of CHS running boys coach Mark Strabel.

Colony has also pegged Crystal Kimball as its new head coach of the football cheer program. Kimball, a newcomer who replaces Calvin Culverwell, brings competitive cheerleading coaching experience from her time at Sweet Home High in Sweet Home, Ore.

“We’re fortunate to find someone with Crystal’s experience, knowledge and enthusiasm for working with high school cheerleaders,” McMahon said in the release. “She came highly recommended from her previous school in Oregon.”

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com, follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports and find him by searching Valley Sports Huddle on Facebook.