NAPOLEON - Shannon Fettig got some of his state champion wrestling muscles rearranging cafeteria tables every day.

If the daily ritual of moving tables, unrolling mats and then putting them all back again is the Imperials' silver bullet, the gun is about to be disarmed.

The state champion Imperials will finally move practice from the school lunchroom into a genuine wrestling room in not too many days.

A $400,000 improvement project to the Napoleon school is all but pinned down.

Along with a new hardwood gym floor, new bleachers and renovated locker rooms, a 70x90-foot addition to house a wrestling room and community weight room is nearing completion.

Fettig, a senior, said he has been hoping all year to get a chance to use the new wrestling room in this, his final season.

He has been wrestling since the days he was still losing baby teeth and has been a key part of the Imperials' five consecutive state-championship seasons.

Overall, the school has 17 state wrestling titles to its credit and it is the smallest Class B school in the wrestling program. Other schools may have fewer students, but they have cooperative programs with neighboring districts.

The Imperials are off to another great start this season, with firsts in a dual and invitational meet last week. They are planning to bring home a sixth consecutive Class B wrestling crown come mid-February.

Fettig may get to experience the last half of his final season in the new wrestling room. Some is better than none, he said.

"I'm tired of where we are. There's not a whole lot of room," he said. "With the weight room right there, we can lift more."

Napoleon students may enjoy lunch more, too. It's fair to say they won't miss the lingering odor of the previous day's hard workout mixing with their hot dogs and mac n' cheese.

Wrestling coach Barry McCleary said silver bullet or not, moving those tables and mats every day will not be missed.

"It'll be nice not to have to roll a mat out ever again," McCleary said.

He said the wrestlers will get more practice time instead of rearranging furniture, plus they'll be able to lift weights as a team in the adjacent weight room.

Right now, the weight room is in an attic storage area above the stage and kids can't be in there without supervision.

He said wrestling has been moved to just about every nook and cranny in the school over the years, having to clear out for concession sales or play practice.

Randy Schumacher, of Napoleon, has been instrumental in raising funds for the school improvement project.

He said it probably couldn't have been done had the school board went the traditional route of raising a mill levy to pay for it. Costs would have continued to rise and public sentiment might not have favored a tax increase.

Instead, renowned Napoleon alumni Myron Wentz, a physician and vitamin supplement mogul, put $200,000 on the table if the community would match it.

Schumacher said the match is about $5,000 short of the goal and he doesn't doubt school supporters will ante up to make it.

He said volunteers have been showing up to tear apart bleachers, paint walls and do whatever they could to help the project and keep costs down.

School projects can take multiple years to design and build. Napoleon's got under way in March and has zipped right along, Schumacher said.

Fettig said he thinks it's awesome that townspeople care so much about the school and the children who attend it.

"It shows us a lot of respect," he said.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511 or lauren@;westriv.com.)