Reaction from players, coaches to the opening of new gyms at Merced, Atwater High.

The wait finally came to an end as Merced High hosted their first game in its brand new gym on Tuesday night.

Fans were greeted by the new-gym smell as the Bears hosted Atwater in a girls volleyball match. Atwater will host its first match on Thursday in the final match of the volleyball regular season with Buhach Colony coming to visit.

The Falcons spoiled Merced’s home debut, winning 23-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-19. Atwater was led by Jenna Johnston’s 33 digs and Megan Escobar’s 23 assists.

It wasn’t the outcome they wanted, but you could see the excitement in the Merced players faces as they got to break in the new gym.

“It was amazing,” said Merced senior Kelsey Parker. “It was a new feeling being in here. I know it wasn’t the ending we would have liked, but we played pretty well. But this place is beautiful. It’s amazing. It feels like we’re in college now.”

Both Atwater and Merced High were long overdue for new gymnasiums. People practically had to sit on top of each other to squeeze in 600 people for a basketball game in the old gyms.

Atwater’s new gym can seat 1,650 people for games and Merced can fit 1,800.

The 26,000 square-foot gyms are equipped with two locker rooms, a coaches office, a training room, and an exercise room that will house weight-lifting equipment. Both gyms also feature an upstairs courts that can be utilized as a full size volleyball court or two basketball half courts.

The price tags were steep with the Atwater gym costing $9.8 million and Merced’s gym costing $10.3 million. The funds for the project became available through a bond-refinancing deal and passage of the Measure M school facilities legislation in 2008.

“I’ve been to a lot of gyms in California as a coach and a lot of gyms on the East coast when I was in the military, and I’ve never seen a gym built like this,” said Merced High boys basketball coach Hector Nava. “A lot of credit goes to (former athletic director) Scott Winton. He looked at a lot of gyms in California. At the end of the day they did a nice job with this one.”

The two new facilities will make a huge impact on the athletic programs at both schools.

Not only were the two old gyms small and cramped, but during the winter it was a juggling act to try to find gym time for practices with three boys basketball teams and three girls teams. Wrestling matches also added to the scheduling difficulties.

“We always had at least one team having to go to Winton Middle School or Mitchell, and still had to have a team practice at six in the morning,” said Atwater girls coach JR Davis. “Now everybody can be done by 8 p.m. It’s going to be great.”

“The scheduling nightmare is over,” said Atwater wrestling coach Nelson Medeiros. “Now we can schedule league dual matches at home without worrying about basketball games. We can host matches in the old gym of we have to.”

Medeiros says the new facility also gives the program to host bigger wrestling tournaments in the future. Atwater and Merced will now be able to get into a rotation to host Sac-Joaquin Section Divisional tournaments, which would keep their wrestlers from having to travel to Stockton and Sacramento every year.

“I’m sort of a different guy,” Medeiros said. “When I first walked in the new gym all I saw was wrestling mats. I got in there with a custodian the other day to measure. There’s a new wrestling rule this year that you have to have 5 feet between each mat. That means we can only get two mats in the old gym. We can get six mats in the new gym and still have seating up top. We can hold some high-caliber varsity tournaments.”

With bigger gyms and two basketball facilities on campus, the basketball programs can also look into hosting tournaments during the season and the summer.

“Next year I’d like to get a varsity tournament and have some bigger programs come in and join us,” Nava said. “It’s also something we can take advantage of as a community too with the junior high kids.”

Davis can’t wait to see the atmosphere for big games in the new gym.

“It’s going to be fun when we play Buhach Colony and Merced to see us pack it up,” Davis said. “I love it. Our student section is amazing and I can’t wait to see the crazies in there. They did an amazing job with the gym. I think we can give some junior colleges a run for their money.”

Davis said his players have been excited to get in the new gym and start shooting. They got sneak peaks during the building process to see how the gym was coming along the past couple months.

“The bottom line is it’s been long overdue for both schools,” Nava said. “The players, staff and community can now enjoy it. Now people can come in and comfortably watch a game. There’s some breathing room now. Everybody can come in and enjoy the new gym.

“We’ve waited a long time for the gym. Now that it’s here, they’ve done a wonderful job with it.”

This story was originally published October 25, 2017 at 3:48 PM with the headline "Reaction from players, coaches to the opening of new gyms at Merced, Atwater High.."