Mykey Ramos may have left Casteel but he was never completely gone.
That was clear to anyone who saw the nationally ranked wrestler still hanging out with his buddies at the school and going to school dances despite leaving after his freshman season for Valiant College Prep in Phoenix.
“I always stayed close with a lot of the guys,” Ramos said after the Colts’ 30-29 win over Liberty. “The school was always a good place for me.”
That’s for sure.
Ramos burst onto the scene as a freshman, winning the state title with a 51-0 record and looked to be a candidate for a four-time champ after a dominating year that saw his closest match at the state tournament being a 13-1 major decision.
It wasn’t to be as the ideal of bigger stage took over when he and his younger brother, Sergio, left for Valiant for his sophomore year.
Valiant is a college prep school that wrestles a national schedule and isn’t in the Arizona Interscholastic Association. Associated with the program are some of the state’s all-time best wrestlers in Eric Larkin, who is the co-founder of the school, and Angel Cejudo, who is the head coach of the program.
The exposure is second-to-none in the state as the Valiant program continues to grow and add to its resume in its third year.
Ramos flourished at Valiant as he was a NHSCA National Champion, and he won a Greco-Roman national title at in Fargo in 2019 and finished second in freestyle. He followed that up by finishing third at in Greco and fifth in freestyle at FloNationals.
As good as the experience was and no matter how many accolades Ramos received, he never forgot about what it was like to wrestle for Casteel, the program Ramos helped start as a middle schooler before Casteel even had a varsity team.
He eventually gave way to those feelings as the Ramos brothers came back to the Chandler school and as the Colts prepare for the state tournament in the next few weeks.
“There’s just something about wrestling for your school with your buddies,” said Ramos, whose first name is Roman. “I wanted my senior year to be with my high school.”
Casteel coach Bob Callison was happy to have the Ramos brothers back in the fold as the program continues to grow.
“We love these guys,” Callison said. “I understand why the left. It’s a great opportunity, but at the same time I see why they wanted to come back. Wrestling for a state title and hanging out with the kids you started with is something special. We are trying to grow something here and Mykey was a huge part of that in the beginning.
“Then there’s what he does for the team. He’s an absolute beast, and so his Sergio, and they set the pace for practice and we’re obviously better for it.”
Mykey, who signed with Arizona State, is undefeated at 145 and Sergio has been just impressive at 132. They both picked up pins in what was the turning point for the Division II Colts to beat Liberty, the two-time Division I state champions, 30-29.
“Let’s face it they are both elite wrestlers,” Callison said. “They push each other and make each other better.”
The brothers are drilling partners and go live against each in practice. There was a time where it wasn’t easy for them to work with each other with sibling rivalry stuff going on but that has changed for the better.
“We know we need each other,” Mykey said. “We understand now that we make each other better instead of making each other mad.”
If all goes as expected it will lead to a bookend state title for Mykey and a first for Sergio, a junior, and maybe even a run at the team title.
“I started out with a lot these guys and that’s who I wanted to end it with,” Mykey said. “We showed (against Liberty) we are a pretty tough team.”
Reach Jason Skoda with story ideas at Jason@arizonavarsity.com.
