In the five years that Castaic High School has been open, there have already been more than a handful of student-athletes who have committed to universities to play sports at the next level. One of the most recent student-athletes to commit from Castaic High School is Ian Ramirez.

Ramirez is a senior tennis player here at Castaic High School who recently committed to Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland to continue his athletic journey at the D1 level.

“I’m really looking forward to going there because it’s about forty minutes from Baltimore and forty minutes from the Capital so it’ll be fun to see those places,” Ramirez told me when I sat down with him to talk about his future playing tennis.

Last year, Ramirez finished second place in the Foothill League Singles Tournament with a record of 37-5 sets won and lost, respectively. He was also the first player from Castaic High School to make the State CIF Open Division Singles Tournament. This year, he looks to win the Foothill Singles Tournament in his final season at Castaic High School.  

“I got second place in the Foothill League Singles Tournament last year. I lost to a senior at West Ranch. Now that he’s gone though, I’m presumptively ranked number one. But, it’s still going to take a lot of hard work and dedication to stay at number one,” Ramirez said. 

Tennis hasn’t always been Ramirez’s primary sport, though. In fact, it wasn’t until he moved to Castaic High School that he started to devote most of his time to playing tennis.

“I played tennis when I was younger, but I was never really competitive with it. My main sport was soccer when I was growing up,” Ramirez said. “During my freshman year, I was living in El Paso and attending Coronado High School. Everything was shut down because of the pandemic, but there was a tennis court close to my house. I spent most of my time during the pandemic just practicing on that court and really enjoying the work that I was putting in. When I moved to Castaic for my sophomore year, that’s when I really started to dedicate most of my time to tennis.”

Not only is Ramirez working hard at tennis, he’s also taking three AP classes this year to get ahead at Mount Saint Mary’s.

“I know they told us to take senior year easy, but I’m taking AP Chemistry, AP Government, and AP Calc BC just to get ahead in college,” Ramirez said.

Through his hard work and dedication, Ramirez has become a role model and a great leader to some of the players in the tennis program and it’s caught the attention of his coach and Castaic High School economics teacher, Daniel Ahn.

“He’s a great leader and super motivated,” Ahn said. “He puts in a lot of extra time with his shots as well as he has a great mentality on the court. He rarely shows any sort of body language, which I think the underclassmen on the team try to emulate.”

Ahn has high expectations for Ramirez’s last season at Castaic High School, and rightfully so.

“Ian was so close last year. He competed with a lot of guys who are really good at tennis from schools like Hart, Valencia, and West Ranch, who are considered the best three schools at tennis in the Foothill League,” Ahn said. “So this year I think Ian will have a good shot at being ranked number one this season.”

Looking back, Ramirez is grateful for his time at Castaic on and off the court. He’s hoping that his last season of tennis will help him achieve success in college one step closer.

“It’s all part of the dream,” Ramirez told me. “Each year, I’ve gotten better. I’m hoping my senior season is the best I’ve had yet just so my time in college is even better. That’s all part of the dream for me.”

When he attends Mount Saint Mary’s University for the 2024-25 school year, Ramirez plans to major in health sciences, where he’s looking to become a physical therapist.