Nicco Ruiz is an outstanding student-athlete with a bright future. He comes from St. John Bosco High School, a familiar place for the Sun Devil program. Coached by Anthony Valencia, the father of Sun Devils’ Zahid and Cael Valencia, this was a perfect fit for all parties.
As a senior, Ruiz continued to dominate, securing his second consecutive state title. Ruiz is staying out West for college and will wrestle for Arizona State.
Wrestling is not only a challenging sport physically, but also mentally. Each wrestler must have the right mindset stepping onto the mat, and Nicco made sure he was fully prepared for it.
In his first match at the NCAA Championships, 16th-seeded Kyle Mosher scored a win by fall in 3:50 against Arizona State's 15 seed Nicco Ruiz. Trailing 4-2, Mosher was able to reverse Ruiz and in the same sequence get his shoulders to the mat for the pin.
Nicco Ruiz gives special thanks to his family and friends that pushed him to his limits as well as his coaches and Bosco brothers who pushed him even further to his accomplishments.
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The most impressive accomplishment is that this year, the Bosco wrestling program placed seventh overall in the entire competition. As a team, Nicco believed that the wrestlers did great. Nonetheless, he also added that there can be much more improvement next year.
Unfortunately, Nicco and the other seniors will be graduating this year, yet their legacies will be felt for years to come.
In a significant victory, Nicco Ruiz upset No. 6 Cam Amine (Oklahoma State) in Stillwater on Nov. 24, winning 4-1 in SV. This marked the highest-ranked win of his career. He had the biggest win of his collegiate career in the team’s win against No. 20 Oregon State (2/4), in which he took down No.
The wrestling program traveled to Bakersfield, where eleven wrestlers competed for the CIF State Championship in their respective weight classes. The elite eleven qualified for their matchups, making them “placers,” as they worked to earn their spot in the CIF State matches. These eleven placers consisted of many underclassmen.
From these eleven placers, Nicco Ruiz and Nicholas Sahakian wrestled their way to the top and were able to achieve CIF State Championships.
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Freshmen Sean Willcox, Issac Torres Nathan Carrillo, Zaydrein Hernandez and Tigran Greyan as well as sophomores Nicholas Sahakian and Joseph Antonio all competed at the Bakersfield event.
Senior Nicco Ruiz and sophomore Nicholas Sahakian emerged as champions. While the competition was heavy, Nicholas kept focus and wrestled his way to the top.
“To prepare mentally, I looked at my past matches from last year’s state tournament and kept telling myself that I have to be better than that.
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