Javier Reynoso, Andrea Urena named John Glenn’s Scholar Athletes of the Year

Javier Reynoso and Andrea Urena stand on the track at John Glenn High School where they were named Scholar Athletes of the Year. (PHOTO BY KEITH DURFLINGER)

NORWALK – John Glenn’s Javier Reynoso and Andrea Urena, after an outstanding athletic and academic year, have been selected as the 2023 Scholar Athletes of the Year.

In addition to the scholar honor for Reynoso and Urena, two Glenn softball players – senior Beatriz Galvez and sophomore Clarissa Galvan earned All-CIF honors for the past season.

Galvez received an athletic scholarship to Walsh University in Canton, Ohio, while Galvan enters her junior year with a lot of talent.

Receiving the Male and Female Athlete of the Year Award was Mikel Udengwu and Mia Ramirez. Udengwu starred in football and track and field, while Ramirez was in cheer and starred in wrestling.

Scholar Athlete Javier Reynoso

Reynoso was a dual-sport athlete participating in both cross country and track and field. In addition, he was also a team captain in 2022 and ’23.

Reynoso will continue his education at Stanford University, majoring in computer science.

“Javier is a wonderful student-athlete,” Glenn Athletic Director Linda Parra said. “He has participated in cross country and track and field at John Glenn. Both of these sports require lots of dedication, and Javier committed himself to his athletic programs. He earned Second-Team All-605 League honors in both sports. Javier also served as President of the Key Club, Robotics Club, Debate Club and was a member of CSF all four years. He was a standout student within the classroom and graduated with a 4.5 GPA. We are proud to recognize Javier as our Male Scholar Athlete of the Year.”

Reynoso knew he wanted to become an athlete at Glenn in both cross country and track and field.

“Going into John Glenn, I knew I wanted to be in both of those sports,” Reynoso said. “It was really my older brother (Vidal), who was here before. He did the same thing in both sports and really good in school. Vidal Reynoso also earned all-league honors. That really motivated me, and he brought me to this amazing team, and I wanted to help it grow, as well as work on my academics.

“I was able to dedicate my time to both cross country and track and field, as well as working on school academics. I made sure I was focused at every time, whether I was out on the track running or at home doing homework. Being able to dedicate my time across the board really helped me to get to where I was.

“I knew one day I wanted to become captain of the team and beat his records he set before. That really pushed me, as well as I learned that there was some really great people here, as I fell in love with cross country and track.”

Javier was proud that he beat his brother in the 5K in cross country.

“In cross country I did beat his PR (personal record),” said Reynoso, with a smile. “My PR was 17:28 on the 5K and was faster than his. I think he got an 18-minute 5K, but in track and field I fell short in the 800. He was still faster. Maybe one day I can go back and beat that (time).

“As of right now, he was dominant in track, and I am in cross country.”

Reynoso has high expectations in his next step at Stanford.

“I plan on attending Stanford University in the Fall mainly for academics,” he added. “I plan on majoring in computer science, but I do plan on joining the Stanford running club and maybe working my way up to the Stanford team, if possible, but there’s a long way to go, so we’ll see where that takes me.”

Reynoso settled on Stanford after not knowing initially where he wanted to continue his education. “Obviously, it’s a great school and has great student and athletic life and they have an amazing computer science program, which is what I wanted to do.

“I fell in love with computer science by taking a lot of the AP courses here at John Glenn and Stanford just seemed like an excellent place to go.”

John Glenn Track and Field coach Andy De La Torre talked of the improvement and drive of Reynoso through the years.

“Javier Reynoso is what I call a ‘Day 1’, he said. “A ‘Day 1’ is a young athlete that in the early training sessions they don’t look the most athletic, but you can see they have the drive to learn and grow to make themselves better, regardless if they’re the best athlete on the team.

“Javier joined our team in 2020 with his older brother Vidal Reynoso who was a senior at the time. They were able to run together during cross country in 2020, but our track season was cut short due to COVID and he wasn’t able to compete one last time with his brother. Javier did see success in his senior year. During cross country and track and field he made the 605 Second Team All-League. As of right now, he holds the No. 3 record for the 800 meters at John Glenn with a time of 2:12.65.”

Scholar Athlete Andrea Urena

Urena, who will continue her education at Cal Poly Pomona, participated in three sports – wrestling, Tennis and track and field - and was also manager of the cross-country team in her senior year.

“I think I got the award because of my grades and how I’ve been keeping them for the last four years by how many sports I’ve been involved with,” Urena said. “It’s a lot to manage and you can fall behind in either your schoolwork or your sports. It was hard to manage at first, but I got the hang of it.

“My toughest class was probably pre-calculus because I’m not that good at math. I was always at wrestling tournaments and wrestling practice. I wasn’t able to be at tutoring for pre-calc in the midst of testing and all of that.”

The balancing of both sports and a high level of academics was important for Urena.

“The ability to stay in my sport was important,” she added. “When you don’t have good grades, you’re either on probation or they don’t want you to compete and knowing that potentially I couldn’t compete I just said, ‘No, that’s not going to happen.’”

Going to Cal Poly Pomona will prepare her for her future school work load and Urena added, “It’s helped me to help with my time management and it’s really helping me figure out how I’m going to manage my time, since I’m used to always being on crunch time.”

Urena, who wrestled at 111 lbs and finished her senior year as the 605 League Champion, was 13-13 overall on a team that was 8-2 and won its fifth consecutive 605 League Championship.

The team qualified for CIF, losing in the first round, but is losing three top wrestlers to graduation – Urena, Ramirez and Trinity Escobar.

Glenn Girls Wrestling coach Hector Ramirez said of Urena, “We are definitely going to miss her in our wrestling room,” he said. “Her giving personality and willing to step in to help teammates when needed was valuable to the program. She has always made herself accessible to her peers.

“I’m very proud to have had the opportunity to coach such a great person.”

In an award that can only be matched, was a perfect four consecutive years of being the top scholar within the wrestling program by Urena.

“Andrea has worked hard during her years at John Glenn, both in the classroom and on the wrestling team,” Parra said. “Andrea is the type of athlete who never gives up and is motivated to work each day. She really focused her senior year to improve on the wrestling team and was able to earn herself a league championship. She was a member of the Key Club and CSF all four years.

“Her work ethic shows within the classroom as well, as she graduated with a 4.0 GPA. She plans to attend Cal Poly Pomona and will major in Sociology. Andrea has shown that hard work pays off and it is with great honor to recognize her as our Female Scholar Athlete of the Year.”

Parra, who also was the tennis coach for Urena in her freshman year, said this of the senior – “Andrea was such a tremendous help when I had to take on the role of coaching the girls tennis team when we returned back to sports from the COVID pandemic,” she said. “She helped me get in touch with former players and we were able to gain the interest of many kids to come out and join girls tennis. Andrea has always been a hard-working player and was dedicated to her team. She was willing to help others on the team and encouraged the younger players. She was a great captain and role model.”

Urena’s third sport was on the track and field team as she was primarily a thrower in the discus and shot put, and would step in for other events if asked, including a relay and the 200 Meter.

“Andrea was a team player and a great competitor,” De La Torre said. “She went into every competition ready to compete to the best of her abilities.

“She didn’t have a lot of success on the big stage of track and field, but we did see personal growth and she was able to achieve the goals she had set for the season. She had a lot of success in wrestling, which was her first sport.”

De La Torre said of the tough task of earning top scholars – “Just like every sports program at John Glenn, we want our athletes to excel in the classroom and pursue higher education once they graduate high school.

“To have our athletes, Javier and Andrea, awarded the scholar athletes of the year is an amazing accomplishment.

“For them to maintain their grades and do well in their sports is truly incredible, and they should take pride in it.”