The first female high school wrestler to win a match in the Virginia High School League Championship Tournament came this close to winning it all.
High school senior from Chilhowie, Maria Ramos, made it all the way to the finals in the Virginia State Championships. After beating two young men, she was up against another, this time a returning state champion. She lost by just a few points, but she broke a record as the first female high school wrestler to make it that far in Virginia. There are no female high school wrestling teams in the state, but that didn’t stop Ramos.
Maria Ramos: When I was in the eighth grade our coach, he came in and he was asking people to join. I didn’t know that wresting was actually a sport. So I found out when this boy told me that I couldn’t do it because I was a girl. And so I went out and I did it and I loved it and I just wanted to keep going and now the boy’s not even wrestling anymore.
Wresting Coach, Shane Keith lost his voice from all the yelling in the Salem Civic Center after Ramos’ wins last Friday.
"She wrestled above what she had ever wrestled before. I knew she was a great athlete. I knew she had been trained, but often when they get to ‘state’ fear sets in so they wrestle hesitantly. But she didn't. She was on fire," said Keith.
Keith has been wrestling Coach at Chilhowie High School in Smyth country for eight years. He always has women on his team. This year it’s 5 out of 22. Most high school wrestling teams in Virginia have none.
