John Glenn’s Mia Ramirez qualifies for CIF State
HUNTINGTON BEACH – Marina High School in Huntington Beach was the site for the CIF-Southern Section Masters and John Glenn’s Mia Ramirez (116 Lbs.) became the first in program history to qualify for the state championships with an eighth-place finish.
Rhain Aranjo (121 lbs.) was the other girls wrestler from Glenn who qualified for the Masters. She didn’t make the final eight, which is the cutoff for state qualifiers.
In addition, Norwalk had four girls qualify for the CIF Masters for the first time in program history: Sabrina Sinohui (106), Zitlali Sarmiento (131), Casey Otero (143) and Thalia Ariste (170).
On the boys side, which was held at Sonora, Norwalk had two wrestlers qualify for Masters: Sean Otero (145), 5th in Individuals and Jonah Fryer (160), 4th in Individuals.
Ramirez, who finished second in the CIF Individuals in the Northern Division, was 4-3 in her Masters appearance which included pins in each of her wins.
After her first-round win, she lost in the second round and fell into the consolation bracket and worked her way through the next three matches with pins.
Ramirez lost her last two matches by pins, the last one was a loss in the seventh-place match, but eighth place was the qualifier for state.
“Mia did punch a ticket to the state championships and she is the only wrestler from the City of Norwalk who qualified for state,” said John Glenn coach Hector Ramirez, who is her father “We are traveling there this weekend to Mechanics Bank Arena in Bakersfield.”
Norwalk, on the other hand came close to having a wrestler advance to state. Sarmiento, who won her fifth-place match in Individuals, came within one minute and thirty seconds of qualifying for state.
She was 2-2 in Masters competition and was the only Lancer to qualify for the second day.
“She came to the program in the summer prior to her freshman year,” Norwalk Girls Wrestling coach Bryan DeVries said. She impressed the coaching staff by her willingness to do a wrestling practice, then go to her Volleyball practice directly afterward.
“Mid-way through the year, we sat down and discussed how she had the potential to get to state given a little extra work. While she came up two wins shy of state, I have no doubt that she will put in the extra work needed to potentially become Norwalk’s first girls state qualifier.”
The three remaining Norwalk wrestlers left their mark at Masters.
“Ariste started coming to practices in December and always gave her all,” DeVries added. “Her lack of practice time never deterred her from competing. She was a very pleasant surprise as a CIF placer due to her lack of time in the room and had a big win in Masters.
“She is tough as nails and always happy to compete. Thalia has a great attitude and will forever be connected with girls wrestling history.”
Both Sinohui and Otero, are both sophomores, went 0-2 at the Masters, but made an impression on the Lancers’ staff.
“She (Sinohui) did what she has done all season,” DeVries said. “She left it all on the mat - from the opening whistle to the final whistle.
“She didn’t get the “W”, but she should be proud knowing that she gave it all. After two years off from the program, Sinohui came back to wrestling and made history – very loud history. She is, however, the loudest voice in the room and on the mat.”
Otero, a sophomore, who along with her twin brother Sean Otero is in the second year of the program. She was introduced to wrestling last season and competed in one match and won it in the CIF Duals.
She has come a long way, as she was the highest placer with her third-place finish in individuals.
“These four young women each had their own paths and obstacles to overcome in order to get this far,” DeVries said. “While they came up short of qualifying for state, they have blazed trails for current and future young ladies to know that doing well in wrestling and coming from Norwalk are possible. They no doubt will continue to inspire our team to strive for greatness.”
Norwalk, which qualified 12 girls in the CIF Individuals, finished sixth overall out of 61 schools represented. They outscored previously ranked CIF teams such as El Toro, Santa Ana and Millikan.
The Lancers, who placed tenth out of 41 teams at Individuals, qualified a whopping 13 boys for CIF Individuals and had two advance to Masters.
Sean Otero, who finished 2-2 at Masters, and Fryer (0-2) both faced eventual Masters Champions.
“Sean has worked hard all season and had the rare opportunity to avenge almost every loss he had this year,” said DeVries, who also assists boys coach Frank Soto, who is the head of Norwalk Wrestling. “Sean is only a sophomore and always improving and making adjustments to potential weaknesses in his own game. Sean continues to work hard and has a great attitude.”
DeVries went on to say great things about the boys program also.
“The boys wrestled hard and with a lot of grit,” he said. “They never let up and took down some top-ranked opponents. Very proud of the way these young men have continued to strive for excellence.”
And finally there is the element that gives the teams’ inspiration – “Little coach,” Lylah DeVries – coach Bryan’s daughter.
“She has voluntarily woken up at 4am to get ready for the day with me and make the team bus,” DeVries said. “She has helped me to analyze matches and even coached a couple girls early on in tournaments when there were multiple wrestlers wrestling at once.
“She has made some positive relationships with these wrestlers and always gives the team great advice, Lylah wants the team to “wrestle like your hair is on fire.
“I also want to send a special thanks to parent Joel Estrella, who is a volunteer coach that has helped me during these tournaments.” DeVries added.
“The John Glenn girls wrestling had a very challenging season, coming off of one year of Covid,” Hector Ramirez said. “The team pulled together and finished as four-time 605 League Champions.