Sergio Vega’s work ethic, perseverance leads to opportunity to sign with Oklahoma State

Sunnyside senior wrestler Sergio Vega has signed with Oklahoma State University, where he will wrestle with the Cowboys.

The school honored him with a signing ceremony Tuesday at its auditorium.

When he graduates in May, Vega will likely have a 4.0 GPA (which he has now).

Part of Vega’s character is that he gives his all. He puts in more effort than necessary so that he can achieve success faster than other wrestlers and students.

“My dad would always tell me, ‘Keep my grades up, and eventually, wrestling is going to pay for my school,” Vega said. “It’s nice that right now, dreams are coming reality.”

Vega has accomplished a lot throughout his wrestling career.

According to Sunnyside athletic director Casey O’Brien, Vega is the top wrestler in his weight class (138 pounds) in the entire United States and he is the top wrestler in a program that is a dynasty at Sunnyside (36 state championships).

.@SSBDwrestling three-time state champ and No. 1-ranked wrestler nationally at 138 pounds Sergio Vega, a senior with the Blue Devils, was honored at Sunnyside by signing with wrestling power @CowboyWrestling. As great of a wrestler Vega is, he is an even better young man.… pic.twitter.com/1Z8tWlG3aG

— Javier Morales (@JavierJMorales) November 19, 2024

Oklahoma State offered him a scholarship because he has put so much dedication, perseverance, persistence and resilience in wrestling.

Sunnyside coach Anthony Leon talked about how even though Vega has all these benefits and all of the luxuries of a scholarship, it wasn’t always like that for the young wrestler.

Vega had to go through setbacks, challenges and misfortunes, which ultimately made him who he is right now.

Leon also mentioned at the Sunnyside auditorium that, “Even though we don’t want setbacks and challenges, we need them so that it can shape us who we are” because it makes us more grateful for our rewards.

When we experience setbacks, we value what we earn.

The people in the auditorium must have liked that statement because it really is true. We do need setbacks and misfortunes to happen to us so that we can be grateful for what we have.

The setbacks can’t be too much because people would become ineffective and quit.

We don’t need too much salt; we only need just a speck of it so that it can give us flavor.

That was the metaphor Leon was telling the crowd about Vega and how he has overcome challenges.

What does Vega attribute for getting this far in his young wrestling career?

“A lot of hard work and all my coaches,” Vega said. “I get things from all of them and try to make it my own. All of them, they play a big role in my wrestling and just how I carry myself as a person, too.

“I’m grateful for all of them. This (wrestling at Sunnyside) has prepared me and I’m going to do some great things.”

Vega also credited has development to his father Danny, a three-time state champion at Sunnyside, and his brother Danny Jr., also a three-time champ at Ironwood Ridge. The elder Vega helps operate Tucson Cyclones Wrestling, where Sergio has trained during his wrestling career that started at a young age.

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Sergio Vega will embark on his college experience this fall at Stillwater, Okla., where fellow Sunnyside High School standout Roman Bravo-Young is training and serving as a mentor and trainer as part of the Cowboy Wrestling Club.

Bravo-Young, a four-time state champion at Sunnyside from 2015 to 2018 who went on to win two national titles at Penn State, joined Oklahoma State’s wrestling club in August after participating in the Paris Olympics representing Mexico.

Vega, who has trained locally with Bravo-Young at Jet Sports Training, will join the Blue Devil legend at the Oklahoma State Regional Training Center. Bravo-Young and other established wrestlers, along with Oklahoma State coach David Taylor and assistant coach Thomas Gillman, will prepare Vega and the Cowboys for their season in 2025-26.

Taylor was instrumental in the success of the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club when he was an assistant at Penn State when Bravo-Young won his second national title in 2021-22. Gillman and Bravo-Young trained together with the NLWC.

Bravo-Young and rival Daton Fix of Oklahoma State faced each other in the NCAA finals in 2021 and 2022. They’ll now be training together and working with young wrestlers such as Vega, who originally committed to Cornell but decided to join Oklahoma State instead after factoring in how he can develop more as a wrestler.

“Cornell, at the time, I felt was the place for me, but then a lot of changes happened,” Vega said. “Roman, he’s an ex-Sunnyside Blue Devil and a Cyclone, so it felt like I had someone like family out there. … David Taylor, Thomas Gillman, the whole coaching staff, all the partners and everything …

“I just felt like it would be super cool and amazing to be part of.”

Oliver Lopez-Nevares is a senior at Sunnyside High School who aspires to be a sports journalist. Javier Morales, one of his teachers at Sunnyside, contributed to this report.