San Marcos gym opens

BY ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

School officials unveiled renovated athletic facilities at San Marcos High School on Monday, including a totally overhauled Royals gymnasium.
With a new hardwood floor, mechanized bleachers and state-of-the-art sound system, the new gym is the highlight of a 16-month-long remodel that also encompassed the weight room, wrestling room, locker rooms, showers and coaches offices.

“We’re just proud to be in a brand-new building,” Abe Jahadhmy, athletic director for SMHS, said. “...They did such a good job, it was worth the wait.”
Workers started the $7.48 million project in February 2006, essentially stripping down the gym to its shell and installing new ventilation, heating, lighting, doors, windows and acoustic paneling. Local donors provided $24,000 for the upgraded gym floor, which Jahadhmy said is one of the best in the state now.
“The floor used to be a safety hazard because it was so hard,” Jahadhmy said. “It was a great makeover and one of the best floors we could get.”
Assistant Principal Ed Behrens — who handles facilities, athletics and activities at the high school — also emphasized the accessibility of the new facilities, pointing out a wheelchair lift to the coaches offices and door hardware that makes the gym and surrounding areas fully accessible.
An added foyer on the northern end of the gym also boasts a new women’s restroom and ticket office, Behrens said, and trophy cases that used to be freestanding are now installed in the wall below “Hall of Fame” photographs.
“We’re all really happy about it,” he said. “It’s been difficult to be without a gym for a year.”
During the renovations, San Marcos athletes used courts at UC Santa Barbara, Paige Youth Center, and Santa Barbara and Dos Pueblos high schools. Behrens said the administration started looking into the project about five years ago.
“It took a lot of time and money, but it needed it badly,” Behrens said.
As far as the exterior of the building, workers added blue and red tiles and replaced glass siding on the southern end. New lighting, trash cans and benches also surround the gym.
As school officials celebrate the completion of this project, they are already starting renovation of the pool, which Behrens said will be replaced with a 25-meter pool deep enough for water polo matches.
Overall, San Marcos High School, which is approaching its 50th anniversary next year, has been undergoing extensive changes, from new wheelchair ramps that bypass steep walkways to an all-weather track at the football field, replacing the former asphalt track. Behrens said the auditorium has been remodeled in recent years as well.
A girls volleyball match in September will be the first event to take place in the new gymnasium, Jahadhmy said, although it has been open for practice sessions for about a month.
SMHS Principal Craig Morgan, Superintendent Brian Sarvis and Board of Education President Nancy Harter participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the high school Monday morning, along with associated student body president and student-athlete Bryn Kass.