Golden Valley wrestling coach Mello picks up win No. 300

Chopper Mello can add another milestone to his distinguished career as the wrestling coach at Golden Valley High School.

Mello picked up win No. 300 in the opening match of the Placer Duals Tournament on Saturday, 46-24 over Del Campo.

“It’s pretty important because it means we’ve been pretty consistent for a long time,” said Mello, who has a 302-71 career record. “There aren’t a lot of coaches who win that many matches. We don’t have as many matches or games like other sports. We only wrestle each team in our league once. So that number is pretty significant.”

Mello has coached 19 years at Golden Valley. During his tenure, the Cougars have won three Central California Conference championships and two Sac-Joaquin Section banners.

When Mello took over in 1997, the team was using an old reconditioned wrestling mat from East Campus that was stored in the wood shop class, where the team practiced.

“Chopper had an immediate impact,” said Golden Valley principal Kevin Swartwood, who was the athletic director when Mello was hired. “He had a vision of what the program needed, including a quality mat and a room to practice in.

“He’s put his own personal money into buying new mats and removing a wall to expand the wrestling room they use today. We’ve been a consistent program under Chopper. One thing I like about Chopper is when teams wrestle Golden Valley, they know we’re going to have a wrestler in every weight class. It’s very rare that we take a forfeit. That means he gets kids out there to wrestle.”

The Cougars (14-7) went 3-0 in their pool Saturday, following the Del Campo win by beating Yuba City 66-24 and Reno 45-32.

Golden Valley lost its final two matches of the tournament, 46-24 to Carson and 45-31 to Churchill of Fallon, Nev.

Brady Mello (132), Johnny Martinez (160) and Jacob Pavey (220) all went 5-0 on the day for the Cougars.

Chopper said the kids knew about the milestone victory but didn’t make a big deal out of it because they were in the middle of a tournament.

“I did receive some text messages from former wrestlers who heard about it on social media,” Mello said. “They just said congratulations, and they were proud to be a part of it.”

Mello, who turned 46 last week, said he doesn’t see an end to his career in the near future unless he decides to go into administration.

His son, Brady, is a junior, and younger sons Jaret (seventh grade) and Austin (fourth grade) may want to wrestle in high school.

“I don’t see an end right now,” Mello said. “I have great assistants who handle the bulk of work in practices. I have my two younger sons who have wrestled before, and if they want to wrestle in high school, I get to coach them, too.”

Which means win No. 400 could happen.

“That would be a big one,” Mello said. “There’s not a lot of coaches who have 300 wins, but very few have 400 in the state of California.”

This story was originally published January 31, 2016 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Golden Valley wrestling coach Mello picks up win No. 300."