As Justice Ramos neared the end of his 800-meter run during the Montrose Invitational on April 24, his lungs burned, his legs ached, and his body begged him to slow down.
Since arriving at Montezuma-Cortez High School four years ago however, the ultra-competitive senior has known only full speed, and this time, that speed allowed him to sprint to a season-best time of 2:00.17 and a second-place finish.
“My (competitive fire and heart) are just there,” Ramos said. “I don’t know how to explain it. It’s just something that you have where you want to be better than you were yesterday.”
Now in his fourth season of track, Ramos has won numerous individual titles while wearing an M-CHS uniform and qualified for the 4x400-meter relay last year.
After starting this track season with disappointing results while nursing a knee injury that he sustained during wrestling season, Ramos has run well as of late and is currently the 11th-ranked 800-meter runner in Class 4A.
“I was really conditioned, and I got my knee injured in wrestling, so I had to focus on staying healthy,” said Ramos. “I started off a little slow, but goal is to run a 1:57 in the 800 this weekend and see what I can do from there.”
When not competing on the track, Ramos has enjoyed success on the wrestling mat, where he qualified for state during his sophomore, junior and senior seasons and advanced to the state quarterfinals in 2014.
“Wrestling taught me a ton of lessons about life,” Ramos said. “I learned about working hard and being tough, and I made a lot of great memories.”
In addition to wrestling and running track, Ramos competed as a member of the M-CHS cross-country team during his junior year and played linebacker for M-CHS football team as a senior.
“Cross-country was rough,” said Ramos, whose best 5K time was 18:54. “I did to stay in shape for wrestling and because my track coaches wanted me to do it. I played football for fun and because my dad always wanted me to do it. I was just along for the ride.”
Now nearing the conclusion of his high school career, Ramos said that he intends to make the most of his final days at M-CHS before attending the University of Colorado or Colorado State University next fall.
Currently enrolled in automotive classes at Southwest Colorado Community College, Ramos said that he would like to eventually become an engineer.
“I’ll always remember how much I’ve grown from my experiences,” Ramos said. “I met a lot of great people and had a lot of good times during my time at M-CHS.”
