Coach Bert Mar’s final county meet sets school record with eight
champions
SAN JOSE – The South Valley Jr. High wrestling team gave long-time coach Bert Mar a special retirement present by earning a school-record eight champions in Thursday’s Santa Clara County Championships at Andrew Hill High School.
In his unprecedented 27-year coaching career at South Valley, Mar had accomplished some tremendous feats, finishing with a 205-1 dual-meet record, 111 section champions, and, until last week, 74 county champs. The single-season school record remained at seven county champs before this year’s Tigers broke it.
With seven champions already in the bag, eighth grader Ethan Ogle stepped on the mat for the 110-pound finals. Ogle won his bout for South Valley’s eighth county champ, giving Coach Mar a career-total of 82 county champions.
Before the start of the finals, Mar was honored in front of the packed-house crowd by GUSD Board of Trustee John Gurich – who handed the veteran coach an all-expense paid trip to this weekend’s Reno Tournament of Champions in Reno, Nevada to watch the Gilroy High grapplers. Mar won a Northern California State Championship as a junior at the garlic high school.
The Tiger grapplers’ record-setting night, included county crowns from seventh graders Justin Ochoa, at 70 pounds, Rodney Balajadia, at 80 pounds, and Martin Gonzalez, at 85 pounds as well as eight graders Ogle, Frank Gonzalez, at 105 pounds, Michael Penychek, at 120 pounds, Jason Romesberg, at 125 pounds, and Hunter Collins, at 165 pounds.
South Valley also had three other finalists who placed second in the county, including seventh grader Lucas Alessi in the 75-pound division, and eight graders Jacob Dexter in the 135-pound division and Jeremy Sabla in the heavyweight class.
In addition, eighth grader John Grifall finished third at 155 pounds; seventh grader John Holtzman took fourth at 90 pounds; and seventh grader Nick Vargas placed fourth at 145 pounds.
Coach Mar announced that he will step down as head wrestling coach at South Valley after a legendary career that spanned nearly three decades. The beloved teacher plans to remain behind the scenes with the program, making sure his kids keep on winning.
BROWNELL SOLOIST: Brownell Academy’s Adam Fortino took home a county championship by winning out the 175-pound weight division.
