Darian Cruz: From the Lehigh Valley to the Olympic Games - Go Earn It Ep. 36 - The GO EARN IT Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Go Earn It Podcast, where we bring
you stories each week of people who have battled through adversity,
overcame the obstacles, and earned their dream. You were born
for greatness and our mission is to bring you the
stories that will inspire you to dream big and go
earn it.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
And Welcome to the latest episode of the Gornet Podcast.
I am Shane Sparks. This is episode number thirty three.
Dryen Cruz, three time All American National champ in twenty
seventeen for Lehigh and most recently off that fifth place
finish at the Olympic Games in Paris, representing Puerto Rico. Darien.

(00:47):
Great to see you. How have you been been good?

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Begin Shane, It's been a little bit since we talked,
but it's always exciting when we get to get together
and chop it up. Yeah, I'm excited to just my
experience and it kind of died a little deeper into this.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
You've had a great career. I'm gonna come out of
the gate because when I think at Darien Cruz, the
first place I go to when I'm probably in the
same camp with a lot of others. Twenty seventeen, Saint
Louis semi finals. You against Thomas Gilman of Iwan the
year before, during in twenty sixteen, you had fallen shorts

(01:26):
in the blood round. When I take you back to
twenty seventeen in Saint Louis, what do you remember when
you're in the tunnel getting ready to tow the rest
light against Gilman in that semi final.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Oh yeah, it's pretty exciting. I mean NCAA's is one
of the greatest competitions on Earth forever, you know what
I mean. Just you know, obviously I'm a little biased
because of you know how my experience through it all.
But you know, I can safely say for a high
school kid going into college or even a college kid,

(02:00):
it's one of the most electric environments, you know, bar none.
So getting ready into the tunnel was something I've I
pictured way before it actually happened, right, So that tunnel,
that tunnel experience was like, you know, I stayed pretty calm,
and I recommend this obviously the college athletes getting ready

(02:23):
I get to that same experience. Obviously were seasons underway, right,
some people already had their first official practice. So yeah,
we just took it very calmly, and you know, I
was fortunate enough to have coaches that knew what to
say to me right and at the same time they
knew in a couple of seconds leading up running out,

(02:46):
they knew to get me excited. But that wasn't hard
to do. I was so excited the whole time, and
I was just so ready to get out there and
experience all the lights and you know, go do my thing.
And obviously I'm wrestling number one seed at the time time.
So yeah, like I said, my mind was made up
before the tournament started, you know, kind of take you
to take you back to. But you know, the rackets

(03:08):
come out like a week before, essentially, right a couple
of days before, and we saw that I was the
four seed, Gillen was the one. So yeah, I remember
at first we were like, what are we gonna do here?
You know, I just had that year I just said,
beating Joey Dance. Who's this two seed? Uh? So everybody
knew Srijana wasn't gonna wrestle, but I remember being like,

(03:28):
oh crap, Like I can't thieve we got the we're
the four seems gots the one seed, and we're you know,
we're doing wrestling math. And then you know, like I said,
before we even legally had to go to Saint Louis,
it came down to like me telling my coaches, Uh,
you know what, it doesn't even matter where I'm seated.
You gotta beat whoever's next to be a national champ anyway.
So I mean, what's the point wreusselled Gilman? The Semis

(03:49):
are in the finals, still got to beat him to
be a national champ. So, like you said, that's what
I mean. But I was. I was ready for that
moment well before I actually got there, So you know,
when it was time to kind of live that moment easy,
it was, I was ready to go experience it for
my own. So yeah, that was That was the whole experience,
getting ready and being in the tunnel and very unique.
But you know, I guarantee a lot of people kind

(04:09):
of understand where I'm coming from.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
What did the coaches say to you? What did Pat
Santoro say to you to calm you down? And then
what did he say to you to elevate your intensity
a little bit? As you said moments before you told
the line.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Oh yeah, I mean at first he could tell you know,
I was like a roller coaster a little bit, and
Coach Santour was so good at this managing those emotions.
And like I said, I was on a bit of
a roller coaster where I was like super nervous and
I could he could tell him thinking about the match
too much, right, and he kind of would just remind me, hey,
like he kind of sees me getting tight. It's like, hey, listen,

(04:45):
you're really good at wrestling, right, You've been wrestling your
entire life in wrestling. You're ready for this moment. You
trained super hard, like just kind of reiff you're sharing, like, hey,
you're ready for this, like like go just go give
you your best and go give it your all. And
I believe if you're ready for this and then uh right.
So that kind of that kind of kind of that
kind of knocked me down from overthinking the situation like oh,

(05:07):
I gotta do it. Like he's like, just do what
you know how to do, and do what you've been
doing your whole life, right, So he simplified you know,
the quote unquote problem now was I couldn't stop thinking
about And then from that point on, he's like, let's go,
let's go see how much fun we can have, like
you're in the national semi final les, you give a
chance do some something pretty incredible, like let's shoot for

(05:27):
the stars, right, that's that type of motivation. And then
I just got me fired up. And yeah, it was
an electric match. I mean, you know how it went.
Uh there's a couple of stoppages in time, so we
were the only Matt wrestling uh at the time of
you know, the overtime and the sorry, the regulation takedown,
the escape and then the overtime takedown. So it was

(05:47):
pretty electric.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
What do you remember in that match, Jarine? As far
as the self talk, I mean, do you remember different
place that matched the self talk? Especially when it was
heading into the sudden victory? What's going through your mind?

Speaker 3 (06:02):
I mean, they leave me up to it. I was,
I'll give you the whole loadown, and so going out
there and it's not like after I coach Santora and
you know, coach Brad Dylan and Darious Little at the
time or telling me uh uh, like I'm having all
this conversation before run out, but I run onto the
mat and I'm still experiencing a slow start, a slow
block start for myself. Right where I'm kind of like,

(06:22):
holy crap, we're in this match, you know what I mean.
It's kind of like like a dreams come to reality
type of situation where you're like a like a pinching myself,
like and my dreaming because the matches, like the cool
thing about you know, time is it comes and it
goes right these events, the semi finals, I knew was
gonna come in, it was gonna go, and it's like
I need to be focused and get accomplished what I
need to accomplish. But as the matches going on, the

(06:45):
time's slowing down, I'm like, you know, I'm thinking like,
holy crap, I'm in this match, right, Okay, okay, what
are you doing? I gotta get to his legs And
you're like thinking like like out of body experience a
little bit. And then once you're in the match and
in the trenches, then you're like, oh, crap, I gotta
I gotta win this. And then I'm building confidence like, oh,
he's not as strong as I thought he was, right
because you know, all season he was this big, bad

(07:06):
bully and he's blowing everybody around, and I'm like, man,
I feel like I'm I'm in here. I can hang
out and I'm you know, we're banging, and come third,
you know, second period, I'm down. He's Ryan building Ryan
time and I can't get out. And I think that
match specifically, in that moment, there was a stoppage of
time that maybe he got calls for locked hands, So

(07:28):
I don't know if it was lockhands or not, but
there's a stoppage in the match. I remember I walk
over to the corner and before the coach is say anything,
I'm like, I think I could do this, Like I
like had a second to like regroup, like no, I
think I got this, Like I could I could make
this happen, And the coach in center was like, yeah,
it's like I know you Can'd like, come on, like
you know what I mean, you could tell it. He

(07:48):
was like, finally, like you get what we've been saying.
And then if you ever can a chance to watch
that match after that stoppage, I explode up and I
kick out and I couldn't I get a stall call
like I had an I made my decision right there
that I was winning that match, right, And you know,
the first half of that second period, he's riding a
tough ride, of course, but I'm not doing anything on bottom.

(08:09):
I'm just steel frogging it, and he's just I'm not.
There's no effort stopping in time. I regroup, I talk
about it, and I'm like, you know what, And in
that moment, I made a decision in my mind. I'm like,
if I want to win this, it's right now. And
then I tried to get out. You know, obviously I
didn't get out, but that's just snowball too, Okay, I
gotta go get a takedown. I get a takedown, okay,
and then or I forget that takedown. In regulation, he

(08:30):
kicks away. New rule at the time is they start
counting if you drop down to an ankle. I finish
on an ankle. They're counting. I don't know how much
times left. I'm afraid if I hold on Beau, I
can hate for stalling. Nineteen seconds left in regulation, so
I know I have one stall call. I'm hanging on
his ankles. I hear the ref two three, and I
don't know how much times left, So I'm just I
let go of the kind regather. He kicks out, he faces,

(08:53):
he gets one. It's overtime, and before I have time
to think, Santaorro is like halfway on the mat. He
meets me on the mat, get on the line, like
come on, you need to co get like and I'm
just like again it's roaring in there, like I can't
hear anything because the scream of the crowd because all
the matches had finished already, it's just us. And then
everyone's processing like, oh we got to take down Buddy's

(09:15):
going in overtime, and again all the emotions of Santoro
and Darius they're like get like, go get another one,
and I'm just like ha ha, and I just get
back on the line. Before before I could think about anything,
and yeah, it was just is so exciting and like
like you know, same tour, prepared for that moment. It's like,
get back on and I just not even thinking. Cap

(09:37):
back on the line. One more, gottaet one more and
you know the rest is history. And yeah, just I
was ready. I won that match. But to be honest,
is what I'm doing now in a coaching position because
I won that match. You know, well before that come
to the same thing with the finals. You know, I
had put myself in that scenario situation so many times

(09:59):
in the match in practice in other duelmates in the
season where I'm like, you know, I gotta you know,
for instance, I'll be up six to nothing or sixty
to one in regulation and I'm exhausted wrestling a tough opponent.
I'm looking to cut him, take him down, you know,
take him down, let him up, take him down again,
to try and get that major because I know a
NCAA's I'll be in a situation where I need to

(10:20):
take down short time. Right, So I'm using my my, my,
my outings or my competitions as challenges right as repped
every aspect of the competition. So yeah, I mean I
was genuinely like prepared to go accomplish that well before
you know, we actually did it, which is pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
You get that take down, the place goes crazy. Then
you get Ethan Lee zaka Minnesota, who was having a
really good tournament. He was a sixth seed if I remember, right,
how tough was it Darien coming off that huge win
against Skill and that's a big win, but of course
didn't win you the title. I mean you had what

(11:01):
was that challenging to kind of ring group or were
you kind of on cloud nine? And and he just
knew he had momentum and it was gonna propel you.

Speaker 3 (11:08):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. To be honest, you know, I'm not
gonna lie. I had a lot of momentum like that
was in the incredible hurdle. For me, that was the
first time where I was able to test my hard
work wrestled the best guy in the country, the most
dominant wrestler at the time in the weight class, right.
I mean he had no close matches essentially, and you

(11:31):
get the opportunity to see what the type of work
you put in. So you know, climbing over that hurdle
was pretty incredible for me. But at the same time,
like walking off the mat, it wasn't like, oh man,
I'm so excited. That was awesome. It was like, oh,
you're here, like you've like you've arrived right, Like you

(11:53):
can do like you can do this. So all that,
all that like the manifesting and like the you're in
the trenches, like you know, I want to be the best.
I want to be the best national telling yourself National
champion every day in the room leading up to the competition,
right from preseason to end the season. You get to
that hump and you're like, oh, how like how far

(12:15):
can I push my limits? Right, Like you kind of
get like this like chip on your shoulder, like this confidence, like,
oh man, what else can I accomplish? So I was
riding on Clode nine and I was just I was
ready to just let it fly and have fun. And
at the same time, one thing I snuck into my
mind was like, all right, NCAA trophy is coming back
to District eleven one way or the other. I'm like,

(12:38):
I want to definitely be the one to do that,
you know, Like from a competitor staff, I'm like, I
cannot let eat the music bring this trophy home. Like
I love the kids, right, but as a competitor, I've
been even wrestling three little kids, and I'm like, man,
it would be so less cool if he was the
one to bring it back to we have Valley instead
of me. So it was like a little intercompetitive like
you know, inn, we have a competition.

Speaker 2 (13:00):
And so so you and Lasa go way back.

Speaker 3 (13:03):
Way back, way back, right back.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Really, how many times do you think you wrestled him
in your life?

Speaker 3 (13:10):
Like ten to fifteen times, majority of them and then
and all of them were before like we never wrestled
in high school. Or in college. Wow, think about that.
So we wrestled and wrestled twice in college, so it's
I would say, like we wrestled twelve times as little kids.
Every year we wrestle in the finals of the v
w L, which is like the District eleven championships from

(13:31):
K to six pretty much every year, and then in
middle school a little bit, and then in high school
he was big triple A. I was double A. So
we never wrestled, and then in college you wrestled that
scuffle that year. But yeah, but not not only just
wrestle in the competition, but you know, we would go
over to Parkland where he was from, and we get
some uh, we get some workouts, and we really yeah,

(13:54):
I'm just a great family. We know we've known each
other for so long and it's so coincidental, like this
thing that's wild. Yeah, like because I we like, we
knew you knew each other for so long that we
anticipated wrestling in high school at some point or even
more in college. But you know, we're like, all right,
if you get to wrestle in the national finals. So
it was cool.

Speaker 2 (14:14):
What do you remember from getting your arm raised and
then being on the podium and hearing your name now
as a national champion.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
Yeah, it was pretty incredible, pretty incredible, super surreal. I
remember when time was winding down, I was I was
so focused, you know, to believe or not. I was
so focused is and and ready to get to get
that job done. That uh as it was, it really
kicked in, like as the second for winding down, you know,

(14:44):
there's three two, and then you kind of hear the
the foghorn because you're obviously you're Sat Louis. We're in hockey,
We're in it, and you're just like super incredibly proud,
You're incredibly grateful for uh, you know, the journey to
come to truition and you know, me as a competitor,
I'm like, man, I like everything. All the trophies you

(15:06):
get and all the recognition is incredible. But it's like
you will forever be on the walls of you know,
the university, right, and that's one thing that's never going
to be taken away. They put up a new building,
they're gonna transfer all that information, you know what I mean.
It's like something that it's legacy. That stuff last forever.
So you're like man, only it's like you get to
do that, and I you know, you spend every day

(15:29):
walking into that that club, right, that that room, that facility,
and you see the names you know that are that
have earned that position in that facility, right because those
things aren't for free. And there's only there's only ten,
you know, there's only ten national champions every year. Every year,
there's only ten. So it's like, think about it statistically, like, man,

(15:51):
you push so hard to do that, and it's like, yeah,
I talked to Mike Caruso, who's who's one of Lehigh's
most you know, prolific wrestlers, one of those with pagresses
come out of le High. And I remember he gave
me a call and he really put this in perspective
for me because he won the national instable's in like
seventy five, right, So he's like, listen, it's been you know,

(16:13):
forty years, fifty years, and it's the only fraternity you
can't buy your way into. You have to earn your
way in. And he's like, and we're exchanging our emotions
and our feelings after you know when it and it's
so crazy that you know, the fifty year gap between us.
The emotions are the exact same. The process was the

(16:35):
exact same, right, Like the idea, like it's not rocket science.
It's really hard to accomplish, but it's not you know,
it's not the most complicated thing. It's like you put
in the work. You you know, you work really hard,
you have faith, you have trust, and you know it
can you know, and at the same time, you need
a little bit of luck on your side. But if
you really want it that bad, you're gonna achieve it.

(16:57):
So it's like that feeling. Nothing like it, nothing like it.
So that's that's one of the biggest things I'm proud
of was Rebell accomplished because I watch it every year
and I'm like, holy crap, there are so many incredible
wrestlers that definitely could have kicked my butt that still
haven't won that tournament or you know what I mean,
Like even thinkings to this day, like there's just so
many incredible actors that have not accomplished that. So it's

(17:20):
I'm humbled every year, every single year, I'm humbled. I'm like, man,
it's incredible.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
You won that in twenty seventeen, so we're coming up
on eight years ago already. Now you're coaching at Penn.
When you think back Durian to twenty seventeen in that
title run, what's something that you did that really paid
high dividends that And I know it's hard to put
it on one thing. Yeah, what's one thing you did

(17:48):
that you maybe didn't appreciate then now you do eight
years later almost and your coach where you can sit
back and go, wow, I did this, and man, that
was huge.

Speaker 3 (18:02):
Yeah. One thing I would say that I really did
in that moment, uh, consistently right, One thing I could
really put my thumb on was Yeah, I would say
it was an attitude shift. It was a big attitude shift.

(18:24):
And this is something that's not like really tangible, so
but I feel like it is important to kind of
talk about is man I was? It bugged me all
the all day. It bugged me all day, not negatively,
but it was on my mind all day every day.

(18:46):
Was being an actual champion right all day, Like like
I I to get upon myself to think about it
and everything that I do. Right, Okay, how about do
you want to be a national champion? I made. I
made my decision based off of that made everyday decision.
So wake up, am I gonna suse my alarm. Okay,

(19:07):
how bad do you want to be a national champion?
You gotta get up? Okay, get up? Okay, what are
we eating for breakfast? I'm running a little bit late.
Do I just grab a candy bar? No, go to
the dining hall? You know what I mean? Every decision
was I gotta do this. I gotta do this, be
a national champion. So and same thing with you know
when you're in the trenches. I'm gonna do it a

(19:27):
five minute ago, one minute left. Man, I'm tired. I
want to I'm just gonna coast, all right. I gotta
be a national champion. I gotta push myself to go.
Get one more take down, two more take done. You know,
any everywhere from diet to how I talked to my teammates, right,
I didn't allow any negative talk in the locker room. Right,
So you know, it may have been super courn may
have been super corny, but I would just nip all

(19:48):
that stuff in the butt in the locker room, like, hey,
let's you know, we're trying to be national champion. Like,
so I'm talking about it more. Yeah. I just kept
reminding myself and everybody around me at the in the
in the moment for that year was like, you know,
normalizing that conversation and using words like so it's self talk, right,

(20:09):
We're talking about a lot of self talk, So a
lot of self talking, and not just self talking for myself,
but self talk for the team. So talking more and
present tense when I'm when I'm a national champion, right,
when I'm an All American, right, talking like talk, you know,
talking into existence a little bit, and you start to
normalize that. And yeah, so I would just say one

(20:29):
thing that I did was think about it constantly, not
in a not in a detrimental way, you know where
you know it's looming over you. But when it came
down to decisions, I based every decision on Okay, it's
just gonna help me be a national champion. And I
just made it. I made it black or white, you know,
I made it black or white, made it yes or no. Right,

(20:51):
And uh, majority of the time I found my guys,
I narrowed it down. I can found myself doing everything
I was doing was to be a national champion. Every
little thing I did was to be a national champion.
So just reframing the reframing the mind and and wiring it.

Speaker 2 (21:07):
That way during your five years at Lehigh under coach Santoro,
what's the most impactful conversation you two ever had.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
It's an incredible question. That's an incredible question. That man,
that's my guy. Coach Santoro is my guy. And uh,
you know, he took a chance on an undersize twenty
five pounder and uh, everything I accomplished in that era.
Santora was incredible at connecting with you because he also

(21:44):
wanted you to be a national champ as bad as
you wanted to be a national champ, you know, so
he he felt with you when you had tough matches.
He felt for you right when you're frustrating the room.
He knew what to say. So a lot of the
things he said was just you know, for me, was
to keep it stealing confidence in me, you know, not

(22:05):
to be honest. Like sometimes i'd work out before duelmates,
I'd just be like, you know, coach pat talk sitting
on the wall, actually like I have no idea what
I'm doing. I am so bad at rest, you know,
like you know how as you get so hard on
yourself and I'm like, dude, I'm so garbage at wrestling.
I don't I feel like I don't know what I'm
doing this and that. And then you got a conversation
with sint tro and and you know, one of like

(22:26):
one of his quotes, it's just like, you know, darn
if we train in the fire every day, right and
it gets really hot, but when you're tossing the fire,
nothing changes because you've been training in the fire. And
it's like you think about it and you're like, then
you think about any pauses and he goes, So you're

(22:47):
training in the fire right now, all right, so embrace it,
get comfortable and struggle in there, and you know, and
figure it out right, and figure it out and don't
get frustrated. Just continue to grow in fire. And I'd
have some of the most I have most of some
of the most dominant dolmates you know, I've ever had,
Like you know, I remember specifically I had I had

(23:09):
one of the Tyrau Brothers. The next day, after having
one of those practices where I felt like garbage, I
ended up coming out in majoring, you know, one of
the Tarro brothers. You know, you're wrestling to Dulmate where
American Universities and you know, and at the time wasn't
the greatest and they only have pretty much one good guy,
and you don't want to be the guy on your
team to the rest of the best guy and lose.
So I'm getting all worked up coach like practice before

(23:29):
the match, coach like I'm not sally good guy, Like
I'm freaking I can't even I can't buy a takedown
and practice right now. I'm super frustrated. I'm terrible wrestling,
you know, the slippery slope. And he's laughing at me,
and he's like, you know, he lays lays a quote
down like that, and then another good quote that he
that he said, uh he uses is sometimes he's just like,

(23:50):
so what you know, I'm I'm in a complaining tornado
and he's like, I don't care. And like I remember
as a freshman when I first used it on me,
I'm like, I got really emotion, like what you don't care?
Like I'm supposed to be your guy, like you know,
I mean, I'm sucking over here. And he's like, uh no,
I mean I care, I care for you, Darien, or
I care about you. I just don't care about your excuses.

(24:13):
And I'm like still puzzled. He's like, because the guy
you're wrestling also is not going to care. So he
even tricked me. He's like, just okay, take your shoes off.
You won't wrestle today. Don't worry about it. We'll pull up,
we'll pull the second string and we'll pull him up
and stick today off. And I'm like, mind tricks and

(24:35):
you know what i mean, And he's just he's always
he's really good at that, and he's really good at
putting things in perspective, and yeah, he's really good at
the Jedi mind tricks.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
So phenomenal, phenomenal stories. So you win it in twenty seventeen.
And one thing, Darian, you know your episode thirty six. So,
I mean, I've talked to a ton of guys that
have won national title. There's another common denominator with pretty

(25:03):
much everybody in this sport, and that is suffering and
or defeat. Like, as great as the sport is and
you've tasted the highs, this sport will humble everybody. So
twenty eighteen, you go to the tournament as a number
one seed and you fall in the semi finals to Soriano.

(25:25):
What do you remember about that? Next year? As the
reigning champion. My broadcast partner on Big ten Network is
Jim Gibbons. Yeah, you won a national title as a junior,
and I don't get it because I didn't live it.
But he always talks about and next time we get together,
I'm gonna really dive and eat with him. But he
talks about how different it was, trying to repeat. What

(25:49):
do you remember from that mission?

Speaker 3 (25:52):
Yeah, I am really impressed with people, especially I haven't
accomplished that. I'm really impressed with people that can do
that because it's it's pretty tough. It's pretty tough, and
it's an underrating thing for sure. I just remember me
not really being ready for it, right, And I kinda
I wish I prepared more for it, not the competition,

(26:14):
but the feeling, right and the emotions that come with it.
And I put way too much pressure on myself. But
you know, it wasn't a result of my environment at all.
It was just like because Cintao constantly was trying to
warn me, right, and I was just more like, I
got this, I got this, I got this kind of thing.

(26:34):
Like I kind of just played it off instead of
really you know, staring it and eyes and leaving it
be what it is. And then you know, Saints story
was really big on because he was a two time
as well, so he's like, listen. His big strategy was,
you know, you're not defending anything. Nobody can take that away, right,
just go and get another one, like go and go
and get a new one this year, right, And I

(26:56):
did a good job of that. But just as he
got closer and closer to the end of the competition, you know,
I got more and more nervous about it. And then
media day when you get there, it's pretty exciting too.
It's like, uh, you know, it's you know, you being
the one seed and this and that and people following
you and then you know, getting the inside scoop and
you're doing you know, the the what are they called

(27:22):
when when a bunch of ran a group of the
one sees get together and they do the intermediate day thing.
But press conference there you go doing the press conference.
So yeah, I just think it was it was very interesting.
I don't think I was mentally ready for that, but
at the same time, and it's like, uh, I'm very
grateful for that experience because you know, not a lot

(27:43):
of people get to experience that right experience that that
that test, that and that trial. So I'm fortunately for that,
but you know, obviously it didn't end up working out
in my favor, so but it's a really good experience. Though.
I think it's so funny that my last college match,
and of being my one of my teammates for Puerto
Rico ever, so you know, Sebastiana Vera was one of

(28:04):
my last college matches and last wins. And I still
remind him of that once in a while, just when
when he gets too big for his witches, I'll still
let him know.

Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah, you won that match for a fifth place to
end your career as a three time All American Darien.
I'm not a predictions guy. I mean, I don't know
if it's true or not, but Tom brandt that I
was supposedly one set. I don't make predictions, and of
all the great Tom Brand's quotes, if that's true, that's
what I like the most, because how does anybody know?

(28:37):
I mean, there are so many things going on. You
can paper that's got some stats on it, you can
because yesterday doesn't matter about today, last year doesn't matter.
And one of my all time favorite stories, it's actually
my favorite story when it comes to me defending why
don't make predictions? And I know it's fun for the
fans and all that stuff, but I remember talking to you.

(29:00):
It was twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, right in that range,
and you and I got to talking in the tunnel.
I don't even know how it came up, but you
tell me a story about the first time I believe.
What then your your true first year. You are getting

(29:20):
ready for your blood round match. Oh my gosh, how
does that night unfold?

Speaker 3 (29:27):
Yeah? So it was pretty crazy because we had like
this two hour window where we're supposed to relax and
I'm with the heavyweight and I get a phone call
from my girlfriend at the time, not you know, fortunately
for me, it wasn't the girl that ended up marrying,
but uh, excuse me call. I did girl days all
through high school and she gise me to call and

(29:48):
she's just like, Darien, I hate your guts, I'm done.
Obviously there's some words in there that I cannot share,
but she really leaned into me. And this is an
hour before we're about to like we're about to leave
in twenty minutes to go back to the arena and
wrestling in the round of twelve within the hour. And

(30:09):
I remember just sitting on my bed and I literally
was like, hey, can we do this like in an
hour from now, Like like I'm about to go to
wrestle one of the most you know, like biggest matches
of my life, Like just give me an hour, Like
you can bring up with me in an hour. I
was such an a hole for that, but I just
was like, I can't handle this right now. And I'm
like super emotional guy. So I remember sitting in the
bed and I'm just like, you know, one mindset, just

(30:33):
one eighty. I'm like, man, I can care less about wrestling,
Like what am I gonna do? And I remember I
started crying. And my roommate at the time again still
one of my best friends to this day, Max Wessel.
He's a heavyweight. He was an All American for Lehigh.
Incredible guy. So Max is just like and he's an
upper classman at the time and he was now again,

(30:55):
I'm a true freshman like seventeen year olds. He was
like like he could tell he was so uncomfortable, and
he was like but he was he was responsible for
me because I was just a freshman and he's like, hey,
we gotta go, like, we gotta get on the bus.
And I'm like a mess, right, I'm like, dude, like
I don't even care about wrestling, man, Like what the
heck am I going to do? And he's like, listen,

(31:16):
that will be here, right, and like talking about surrounding
yourself with the right people. But uh, he's like that
will be there after this. This opportunity they have is
you know, it's gonna come, it's gonna go. So let's
like like get your shit together, man, Like you have
one you know, in about twenty minutes year, you know,
thirty minutes, you're gonna wrestle in like six a seven
minute match, and you know then you're good to go.

(31:36):
But I think it was it was, you know, it
was really good. It worked in my favor. I was
not no longer thinking about the match, and I was
like in this frustrated spot where I'm like, man, like
I don't care who this guy is. I'm just gonna
go wrestle, you know what I mean. It was. It was.
It was a very situation. But yeah, my girlfriend through
high school broke up with me at the time, and
you know, uh, me being a mature adult now is

(31:58):
definitely my fault. But it's just it's funny because you
never know, like talking about predictions, you never know what's
gonna happen. It's so funny. Santora talks about this all
the time, especially in like his package to prepare us
for the national tournament. He's like, you never know if
a guy's hurt, if he's failing school, if it's you know,
has family problems, if it's you know, his girlfriend's bringing
up with him. And I was just one of the

(32:20):
statistics things he was talking about. So it's so funny
that I got to live it. But I ended up
going out there getting the job done and in uh
in an incredible fashion as well, and in a ride
out situation, and it was an electric match. Was so
fun to you know, watch back, and even more fun
to live it. But yeah, man, you never know. And
that's one thing, like I said, Santor talks about a lot,
is you never There's a lot of guys in that

(32:41):
bracket who want to quit, right, A lot of guys
it's a long season, right, a lot of guys who
are cutting too much weight, who are ready to be
ready to be done. So he Santaur framed up as
like a lot of guys are looking to quit. Very
few are looking to win the tournament, you know what
I mean? Like very like and you see it, right,
you see it. You can see who's out there to
get it. And that's why there's these you know, a

(33:03):
lot of a lot of unpredictable things happen at that
competition because a lot of like some people step up
to the blate, right, and some people step up to
the plate, and some people will get overwhelmed. And I
was on both ends of that spectrum. And it's like, uh,
that's why I believe it's one of the greatest tournaments
ever ever.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
When you look at your career at Lehigh actually you
know what, scratch that your entire career. Oh yeah, at
any one point, what what is a match Garian that
for whatever reason you learn the most from.

Speaker 3 (33:41):
Are you talking about a type of match or a
match specifically.

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Anything, just just a match? Like I'll give you an example.
I was talking to Cody Brewer what a national title
at Oklahoma. He told me that there was a match
in the Big Twelve finals that he listened to music
and music hit him so fired up by the time
he got to the match, he was exhaustly. He said
he never listened to music again.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
I hear, I darn.

Speaker 2 (34:08):
I mean I just so, So, what what's a match
in your career that, for whatever reason, like you just
learned a lot from?

Speaker 3 (34:15):
Oh? I would say that Lizac match at Southern Scuffle
that really changed, especially the year that I won, that
really uh lit that fire under my butt. So the
match I wrestled a Scuffle. I went out there and
I remember before again not taking anything away from Ethan,
He's an incredible wrestler. I remember going out there and

(34:35):
feeling like I just didn't want It was the first
time in like I can really say I felt like
I didn't want to be there. I was just like, ah, man,
I'm not I don't feel like, I don't feel like
doing this. I don't want to wrestle back. I don't
want to in wrestling for you know, fifth and six.
I think at the time, I'm like, long day, I
just want to go home. I really felt sorry for myself,

(34:57):
to be honest, and it was just like it's it's
grow even just thinking about it. But I remember walking
to the match, I'm on my feet just hanging out
with him. Right, nothing happens. We go into second period,
I picked down, he turns me. Third period, he's up
for you know, for nothing. He picks top very boring
match his match, not saying that he's boring, but just

(35:18):
I didn't do anything. And I remember that happened in scuffle.
And I had a class at Lehigh that I took
that semester, and it was abnormal Psychology. It was so
every Monday, seven to ten at night, so after workouts,
so I'd go from practice to dining hall to that class.
And every time I got to that class, like every time,

(35:41):
you know, I sit down with the class starts at seven,
I would watch two matches that I wrestled in before
I started that class every time. So unfortunately, you know,
I'm sorry, professor. I wasn't paying attention for the first
twenty minutes of class because I was watching my uh.
I pull open my laps, sit in the back of
the room over my laptop, and I'd watch Aaron Cruise
versus Nick Cariano because the rest of them opening doul

(36:03):
Meat or one of the opening door meets Againstpence Date.
And then I'd watch Darren Cruise, uh Ethan Lee's excellent scuffle.
I'd watch those every Monday, every week and those two
those are the only two losses I had that year.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
Okay, so you just watch the losses.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
I'm like, uh, what did I do wrong here? And
then I you know, those emotions me being an emotional guy,
those emotions rush back to me like I'm feeling sick
to my my hands are getting clammy before I'm watching
the match, you know what I mean. Like it's like, uh,
I felt all this experience again. And then as I
more and more I watched it than where I could
watch it just being calm and really analyze. All right, man,

(36:44):
I did this wrong? Like watching the les like matches
like man, I I didn't do anything on my feet
the whole time, like no one, Like I'm easy to
beat when I'm not offensive, Right, it's not complicated, Darren
for hanging out in front of the guy. The guys
want to slow the match down, so then you know
they want to be in the least amount of point
hold that they can be, and so that it's so cool.
It's so funny that I happen to watch that match

(37:05):
every day and I end up wrestling Leazak in the
National finals, you know what I mean. Like, so, I
watched it so much that in my head and I'm like, oh,
this is it's an easy, easy fix, easy fix. You
hang out with you, you let him wrestle his match.
You're gonna lose, so go into n C double as. Again,
I watched that match so many times in my head

(37:26):
that I had already figured out what I need to
do to win. So I just so happened to wrestle
him in the finals. Where I've been watching that match,
you know, all semester, every Monday, and uh so I
went out there. I knew the game plan, We knew
the game plan, and you know, just that day leading
up to it, wrestling the finals, you just you drill

(37:46):
and you work. Your workouts are more directed towards the
game plan. But yeah, you you know the game plan.
And so then, like I said, that match was one
well before I got out there. So I would say
that's one of the biggest matches I learned the most
was that loss to Lezak, and it was like one
of the most critical and impactful matches. And again I

(38:07):
say coincidentally because I just happened to watch the two
matches that I wanted to see what I was doing
wrong obviously in the matches that I lost. And then
fast forward a couple of months, I happened to watch
or wrestle the same guy I lost you that year
in the national finals. You know, that's such an awesome
coincidence because I've been preparing to wrestle that match again
for so long, you know what I mean? And yeah,

(38:28):
that's that's one of my biggest learning matches or learning lessons,
was that loss that I took. I Uh, I made
it a point to never let that happen again, and
I studied why it happened, you know, and what I
was feeling and what I was experiencing. So then another
point was like I'm gonna make sure every time I
sip out on that line, I'm prepared to step out

(38:49):
on that line, right, Like, get yourself to that point
every time.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
Yeah, that is that is some really good good insight
When you look back at your career, what match and
it's been a while, but is there one that you
want to get back? You know, one that one that made.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
Oh my gosh, saying I would say, and this is
just just uh, one thing that I wish I had
the opportunity which I was a little bit more mature.
Was uh, megal Loutas Megalalutas was just because he humbled
me really quick, like I was coming out of high school.
I think I had six losses my whole high school career.

(39:30):
He beat the crap out of me every time he
wrestled my true freshman year, every time. Like I've never
you know, Shane, I've never been TechEd or pained in
my life. I mean maybe in middle school I remember
getting pained a couple of times, just like defensively right,
but never never TechEd in my life, never majored. And
then my freshman year I get TechEd twice, maybe even

(39:51):
three times with the same guy. I'm like, yuck, but
he just he would be big brothered me the whole time.
And like again, not taking anything away from me, He's incredible,
the credible wrestler. But I would love to see after
I developed, how I could handle his pace and his flexibility,
and I think it'd be a lot better match. That
was one I think personally, I would like, like my

(40:12):
pride would wants wants to get that one back, Beau.
I think it'd be a lot more fun funny, Like
I got to play with around him a lot when
I was with TEAMSA and I was wrestling at a
do OTC, and I remember like I never talked to
him about it, but constantly thinking in my head like, man,
you just got me when I was young. You know,
you got when I was young. I think it'd be
different now, but no, he's he's incredibly, incredibly good guy

(40:33):
as well. We know each other pretty personally, so I
always like I always liked the jab but him like,
you're lucky you got me while I was a puppy,
So yeah, you're That's when I want to get back.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
That's another great story that you have, Darian. True freshman year,
you lose to mega loutis at the tournaments and then
you're what, go five and I think you went five
matches to get up the stand, Like what do you remember?
I mean you're a true maybe not maybe not old
enough to know any better, but yeah heard it out.

Speaker 3 (41:01):
Yeah, like to be honest, Like, that's one thing that
just Chantaur and Brad Dylan were just really harping on,
was like, hey, and they believed in me the whole time.
I didn't have a single Top twenty win all year,
not a single Top twenty win. And I had came
out wrestling the three seed and that year the four
seat got upset as well, so I ended up wrestling

(41:24):
the guy from it was a guy from Air Force
my Tins. I wrestled him pretty early too, So after
again not beating a single top twenty guy all year,
after losing to Mega Louise, I think I beat four
top you know, top ten guys in a row and
just one match at the time. And you know, Chanor
and coach Brad Dylon constantly believed in me, and they

(41:45):
kept reinforcingly, like, hey, a lot of guys are looking
to quit, right, give him a reason to quit, right.
You don't cut, really don't really cut. Anyway. We won
twenty one my freshman year at cuble A's and he's
like the push was like, hey, you don't you know,
you know, you're not stressing over weight cut, Like just
go out and make these guys quit, like just keep

(42:05):
pushing on and keep pushing on. And to be honest,
I like to think that a lot of people just
folded at that tournament. You know, obviously I did some
things well, but he was absolutely right. Coaches were right.
I feel like these guys were you know, you give
him a little, you give him a good enough push,
and they're gonna fold.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
Let's talk about the Olympics. So a couple of months ago,
you're wrestling for Puerto Rico. Top of mind when I
say Olympic Games in Paris, what does that mean? Darien Cruz?

Speaker 3 (42:38):
Electric? Right, the Olympic Games were electric. That experience was unbelievable.
It was incredible. I Uh, after experiencing that, I was
like I was planning on going into the Olympics. I
think I did an incredible job of being where my
feet are at and not having no expectations, no anticipation.
You know, we were qualified four months before the actual games,

(43:01):
so I made I was very intentional on being where
my feet are and every day is not you know,
I gotta win the Olympics, but every day is how
good can I get in time for the Olympics, Like,
how good can we get? So then come Olympic time,
Olympic experience, it was all a fresh again. I had

(43:21):
no expectations, no anticipation, nothing. I was just like, when
it gets here, it'll get here. And then I could
experience it, and so I didn't look into it and
do it. I just stayed focused on task at hand.
So when gets the Olympics, man, it was incredible. It
was like every everything from leaving the get to the airport,
to fly out there, to arriving in the airport, to
the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony, the interactions, the experience.

(43:45):
I got to genuinely experience it for what it was
and when it was, you know what I mean. I
took it at a day at a time, and man,
after getting there and getting so close and experiencing that
and being in that environment and you've been you know,
I'm sure you've been to the World Championships or at
least watch it gets crazy in there, and you know,

(44:06):
you can imagine the Olympics where it's that much more mainful.
There's three mats and everyone knows what's exactly, what's going on,
exactly what's at stake, and uh, yeah, it was just
it was just incredible.

Speaker 2 (44:19):
What was your favorite part?

Speaker 3 (44:24):
One of my favorite parts? I had two. I mean
running out for every competition, like every rep was incredible,
Like you just feel it in there. And I remember
my first time I ran out. I ended up pinning
that guy from Egypt. I remember running out there, like
I remember them saying it's like for the first match.
The guy in the tunnel comes back, is like, hey,

(44:44):
you know, count down two minutes, okay, one minute, okay,
thirty seconds, and he's in It's in broken, broken English,
but he's like, hey, when you get out there, they
announce your name. You stand in front of the doorway,
stand there for five seconds for the TV, the camera,
and then you walk out to the mat. Okay, okay, okay,
all right, you're on in ten. I walk out and
I'm getting ready to go. They announced me. I'm standing

(45:05):
in the tunnel and I'm just like I'm excited to
go out there. I'm like bouncing around and I stopped
for a second and then like, okay, you give me
the thumbs up to go, and I just start running.
So I'm so excited. I want I wanted I wanted
to I want to get going. So I start running
to the mat right and even though he told us
to walk, and the camera guys doing an incredible job
of like back pedaling, keeping you staying on balance, and

(45:26):
I apologize even though they told me not to run,
but I was so excited. Then you feel it all,
you feel it all, and then I'm so fortunate because
coach McCoy was like, hey, he's been in the two Olympics. Ye,
it's like, hey, it's gonna be bananas out there. Make
sure you soak it in, uh, you know, then pull
back in and focus on Okay, okay, okay, okay. I
get out there, and I'm like so excited. I'm like
a dog. I like, I just like I'm looking around

(45:48):
and I'm like, okay, we focused because I'm like, I
to hear my my family, my wife, my my my daughter, yeah,
my daughter, my son. I hear him. I hear a
bunch of yelling, and I look up for a second
just to soak it in. And then I'm remember consciously
bringing it back in and being like, all right, I'll
find my family after the match. Okay, let's focus. And
I got it, you know, got locked in, score a takedown,

(46:11):
put him on his back, pinned him, and then I
got up and I could look I could look out
into the crowd experience. I looked out, saw my family celebrated,
really could see how incredible the venue was, and yeah,
it was electric. It was like the whole experience was electric.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
From a wrestling standpoint. What what was the biggest takeaways?

Speaker 3 (46:33):
Can you hear me?

Speaker 2 (46:34):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (46:35):
Okay, one of the biggest takeaways, I would say, Man,
a lot of learning experiences, for sure, But I think
I put a little bit of pressure on myself towards
the end, right, firstly for that bronze medal match. But
at the same time, uh, it was just so exciting.

(46:58):
It was just so exciting, and I genuinely can say
I gave it my all, right, it wasn't my best performance,
right given the circumstances. You know, by the time I
got to the mat, I could barely feel my legs,
which is not a good feeling, right, Like, I was
just so excited and nervous and anxious all at the
same time that I get onto the mat for the
bronze medal match and I have you know, I can't

(47:18):
feel my legs, but I again, my own willpower and
desire was when I say I left it all out
there was like I was dog tired because the nerves
were just overwhelming. You know, I believe I'm in shape,
you know, I rest of my match again, I think
it's a different result. But when the nerves get to you, man,
and you're you know, your legs feel like jello, and

(47:39):
you're you're panicing it, You're in a little bit of
a panic. And I just I'm very proud of just
the effort I put in because I like, no matter
what I was, like, I refuse to just give this up.
You know, I'm gonna try as hard as I can. Like,
I know, I can't feel my legs, like I know,
I'm I'm in a panic mode. My mind is racing.
I'm exhausted, But this is something that this is a

(48:00):
childhood dream that you get to live out, and I'm
just gonna try as hard as I can. And you know,
obviously it didn't work out in my favor, so I'll
just you know, one of the biggest takeaways would just
be remain calm. Like that was just one match where
I kind of got too excited and then I got
too nervous, you know what I mean. Like it's just
emotions were just really really uh all over the place.

(48:22):
But just uh just to remain remain even keel, which
is hard, right because I don't know a lot of
people that have been in the Olympics and uh. You know,
that's just one thing that I needed to experience on
my own to really uh gain that perspective, right, and
that's as a true competitor. I'm going to lose sleep

(48:42):
about that probably the rest of my life, right for
a long time. But it's a lesson that I learned, Like, hey,
uh and I you know, the lesson I learned immediately
after that was why get so stressed out? Like your family,
your kids, like your your two kids were just so exciting.
Like there's just one photo on my phone, it's hilarious.
It's a you know, after I lose that match, I'm

(49:04):
a mess. I'm I'm crying my eyes out. I walk
out to the area and just see my wife and
my babies first before I see my whole family, and
my daughter sees me crying, and she just starts crying
because you know, she doesn't She's only three years old.
I'm sure she doesn't understand the magnitude. She's her dad
crying and I see that, and I'm like, you know,

(49:25):
there's a picture of me squatting down comforting her, right,
I'm wiping her tears and you can tell she's emotional.
And then over our shoulder, like right, you know, right
behind us, it's my wife holding my son, and my
son's just laughing at us, you know what I mean.
Like it just puts into perspective, like you know, your
daughter and your family just loves you for who you are,

(49:47):
right and then you know the winds and losses don't matter.
And like I said, my daughter was just emotional because
she saw me, uh you know me for me, you
know the reeson I was what I was because I
was emotionally invested in my entire life, right, Like, I'm
very emotional about it. And she's just feeding off of
this emotion and she's just, Daddy, why are you crying?
She starts bawling her eyes out, and I'm telling her, like, listen,

(50:08):
it's okay, Like I'm I'm incredibly proud of you know
what I've what I've done, when I've accomplished, you know,
and trying to teach her, a three year old, a
life lesson that you just experienced less than five minutes ago, right,
and like and this this culmination of lifetime's work and
you're trying to explain to your three year old daughter,

(50:29):
like and that's when I really realized, Like I'm like,
you know, talking to my daughter, I'm like, listen, I'm
I'm so grateful for you guys to be here. I'm
so grateful for you guys to be here. And I
could have done all this without you, without you, but
I want you to know, Daddy's gonna be okay, and
you know, the son's gonna come up tomorrow, and I
still got you got, you know what I mean, Like

(50:50):
just little things. And again in that in that photo,
you can see in the background my son just laughing
at us because he's just happy to see his dad,
you know what I mean. It's just like a happy baby. He's, oh,
Dad's here, you know, And it just puts it in
perspective that kind of stuff that this might be mean
the world to me, but you know, I also mean
the world to uh you know my uh too young

(51:10):
young babies now. So it's like, you know, what are
you getting so worked up on about? You know, it's
just it's just a six you know, two three minute
goes thirty second break in between, you know, and I
wish I kind of had that relaxation running out there.
But you know, you live and you learn, like you
live and you learn and I am going to make
a push in twenty eight, So I'm excited to uh
have experienced that. Right, Sometimes you got to learn stuff

(51:32):
the hard way.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
When you look at your career up to this point, Gary,
in the ups and downs, what are you most proud of?

Speaker 3 (51:41):
Yeah, I can easily say, right, I'm I'm a very
selfless person. I'm I'm the most proud to have been
able to represent so much and so many with so
much pride. Right, I'm genuinely grateful and proud to have
been able and honors have been able to represent you know,

(52:02):
an l hawk on my singlet for so long, to
represent you know, the Puerto Rico flag, to represent have
been able to represent the United States for as long
as I did, because uh, you know, growing up, I
just think it's really important to be grateful for that
kind of stuff, right, and and be proud of that
kind of stuff, because you know, people are giving you
psally in our sport, people are giving you opportunity to

(52:23):
accomplish some pretty incredible things. And uh, you know, some
people kind of you know, lose that lose that passion.
So I think it's important to know why you do
what you do and and who you do it for
So I'm very proud of the way that I represented
you know, those three organizations companies, right, you know, and

(52:47):
not for nothing, but the way I represent my family,
my last name. So it's just I'm very grateful for
those opportunities, right, bethleem Catholic, Uh you know le High now,
you know, just give me the opportunity to you know,
represent something bigger than myself.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
This is the go earn It Podcast. Give me your
go earn it moments. You know, what's some moments in
your career where you had to learn something about yourself
to get a job done. Nice coach Malente, Nice.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
Yes, yes, yes, great. We talked about this a lot,
you know, me and him and I just because you know,
being guys that have been there and done that. You know,
go go earn it moment was you know, we can
talk about that Gilman, that Gilman experience where you're down
seventeen seconds left, sixteen seconds left. That and we talked

(53:41):
about this too. That go that go earn it moment
was worked on so many times. I've lost that go
earn it moment countless times. From October one to March seventeen,
I've lost I've been in those trenches. I've seen that
movie so many times, right, and so I was prepared

(54:03):
with sixteen seconds left, all right, you gotta go earn it,
all right, gotta go earn it. Clear the tie, drop
to a little ankle, come out the back, finish, collect
two ankles. Right and then even then, right, I earned it.
You gotta go earn it again. You never know, right right,
you never know. And I've again, I've been in that
situation in practice room since totally. The coaches would put

(54:26):
it on me. Okay, I diag, that was ac count.
You gotta go in another one, you know what I mean.
Like they've put me and I've failed. I felt I've
fallen short so many times. But I've also accomplished it
so many times, you know what I mean. So I
put in the work. I started to learn how to.
So then going into overtime, you know, thirty seconds down
in the overtime and I gotta go earn it. He's
done all my leg Gotta go run it, you know,

(54:48):
hit a windmill to it, you know, a switch to
a takedown. So yeah, I would say that that's one
of my most most breakthrough. Go earn it moments. Was
that that matchup in Saint Louis A.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
Couple more questions for you, Darian, tell me about the ink,
what kind of text you have? What do they represent?

Speaker 3 (55:07):
Oh? Yeah, so I have this this guy right here,
So this is if you notice these two things are
on our on our single that's in Puerto Rico. So
this is the Eiffel Tower. We still got a little
bit of everything in here, Puerto Rico, the Koqui frogs
and native frog on the island. You know, this is
a native symbol on the island Taino Indians. This is

(55:30):
the Eiffel Tower. So this picture is pretty cool because
this is actually a picture on from my phone album,
like my my photo album on my phone and uh
so I have the the real photo of this and
it's very similar. There's the flag Puerto Rico flag on
the back, and I got a little bit of Beth
Limbs star up here. It's never forgetting where I'm from.
So yeah, it was something that I always thought about,

(55:55):
you know, being able to you know, being honored to
have the Olympic flags and care sorry carried the Olympic
rings on you and being an Olympian. I feel like
I've earned that earned that right. So it's it's it's
pretty cool, pretty cool to be able because you see
all the time, right you see all these Olympians with
just the rings on it and uh tattooed on them
are somewhere and I think it's like a badge of

(56:17):
badge of honor to be able to represent you know,
the Olympic rings as well.

Speaker 2 (56:22):
How long did that take?

Speaker 3 (56:24):
Oh, it was a tough one. It was so talk
about a tough one. It was eight and a half hours.
I did straight because I'm I'm not even the biggest
tattoo guy, but I know if I would have gotten up,
I would have never came back because I it was.
It was. It was brutal. Uh and then I had
practice the next day, so uh it was and then

(56:44):
I you know, then I had a break. But still
it was. It was good. We were in the trenches
for a little bit, but I think it was definitely
worth it.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
Daring. If you had to take a ride from one
coast to the other in a car, you and three
people that you've never met General live, you get three,
but you can't have have never met him General alive.
What what three people are you choosing? To make that
track with.

Speaker 3 (57:12):
That's a good question. Three three people I would take.
I would want to take somebody, right, one of one
of the people would have to be like like Gandhi right,
like a like a like a civil uh uh civil guys,

(57:33):
just to make sure, uh, because I have a lot
of questions about that kind of stuff, right. And I
would say I would want to take a president right
just to know, right, it's not that it matters, doesn't
matter which one obviously one more recent one or a president.
I want to know what's what's really going on in

(57:54):
the White House and if they're allowed to spill the
spill the tea on everything. I would want to take
again a press and just to see, just to hear
about the real ins and outs of what's going on,
what it takes to be, you know, president of the United
States and that kind of stuff. And then I would
talk to h about One of the last people I
would bring would be uh me personally. I would like

(58:17):
to talk to Gable. Uh, Dan Gable. That's one guy
I've never really I you know, met him as a
young kid at a camp went up. I never knew
him personally, uh to talk to So I mean That's
something that I just would want to hear his stories
because he's been, he's done some pretty incredible things. And
I enjoyed talking to you know, older coaches and hearing

(58:38):
their experience on the demographic of wrestling at the time.
What it looks like, you know, how how it's changed,
what was scept you know, just tools that I could
learn from myself, right, what it looks like, what it
looked like back then. How you guys were so successful, right,
how it felt to you know, break through and be
so dominant for so you know what I mean, like pick

(58:59):
his mind on because I think even though time changes
and you know, styles and all this stuff changes, I think,
what what reigns you know, what reigns supreme and what
continues to reign is there's something that's common in all
of these championship teams and champions right, There's something that
that is consistent through it all. So kind of finding

(59:20):
where we line up and kind of what what what
was different and what was what was similar?

Speaker 2 (59:27):
Good stuff. I had another question for you, and all
of a sudden I cannot reach out for us. These
conversations are so fun because I'm like, you say something
and all of a sudden in my mind, I'm like, literally,
it's like I got five questions. I got fined. I
don't know if it was some concussions growing up or whatever,
but I wish I could. I just wish I could
remember things. A good question. Two, you were talking about Gable.

(59:50):
Oh darn it all, this is this just bothers me,
and I'm not going to get it either. I'm not
going to get it. Actually I got it, Dare, Yeah,
I did get it, because you were talking about like
the evolution of the sport. Yes, something in the sport today,
an aspect of the sport today that you're most like

(01:00:11):
passionate about. Like if there's a wrestling conversation going on
in a certain topic comes up within the sport, what
what are you I am in?

Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
That's a good one. That's a really good one. I
would say, I truly enjoy. And you know, it's it's
interesting because only if like a certain few understand this
is what it truly takes or what I want to
I like hearing what people think it takes to be
a champion, all right, because it's I it's such an

(01:00:40):
interesting topic. Some people can talk about it from experience,
but At the same time, I truly believe some of
the greatest coaches have never really individually accomplished what they
set out to accomplish. Right, So when the idea of
what it takes to be a champion, I enjoy debating
and and having conversation about. Right, we got incredible leaders

(01:01:04):
here with Rena and Villenian, Doug and Kevin. It's like
we can talk about what it takes to win a lot.
We can have those debates, and then even somebody like JB.
Right who seems to have accomplish an incredible amount as well.
So it's cool here in different people's perspectives on you know,
what it takes, where we align, where we kind of

(01:01:26):
oh and I didn't realize that, or I don't know
if you know what I mean, where we kind of start,
where debates kind of take place.

Speaker 2 (01:01:32):
So spand on that, Darien, Like, from your perspective, what
does it take? And then maybe what are some things
that one might say it this is what it takes
for you might be like, yeah, I'm not so sure.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
Sure, sure sure, I just think, uh, you know, there's
a couple of factors that I believe are instilled in champions, right,
but there's a couple of factors that need to be
grown organically. And at the same time, some people, like
some champions, just are with it. Right, there's some stuff
that you cannot teach. So I think it's identifying, you know,

(01:02:04):
those three areas and then getting to work on what
you can control. Right. So there's and I think you
can constantly grow and everything. You can grow in creativity,
you can grow in toughness, right. You know, it's like
the nurture versus nature in those regards. Right, So I
think you've got to be tough. You gotta be willing
to learn, you gotta be willing to fail, and you

(01:02:28):
gotta be willing to u you know, almost like in
a crazy way, be willing to do whatever it takes,
not in a negative way or malicious way, but just
in a way that's like I will do whatever it takes,
you know, if it means getting an extra workout in,
if it means this, if it means But I feel
like that goes hand in hand with like trust. So

(01:02:49):
I think on top of you know, you gotta be able.
You gotta be willing to work hard, You got to
be able to struggle, you gotta be able to trust
in the process in your coaches, and yeah, I mean
it's just a melting pot of things, right, and then
we get then we get to the more specifics like
what wrestling move, what wrestling qualities do athletes tend to have,

(01:03:10):
you know, in common? And yeah, there's a lot of
stuff like that. You know, obviously with Kyle Drestler, you
need to be able to ride, You need to be
able to put in a tough ride. Right, We're talking
about more specifics. You need to have an attack of
one and a two attack that you know how to
score on from every option and you know what and

(01:03:30):
you know how, and you need to know how to
you know, defend your legs. Right, baseline defense, because even
if you do give up takedowns, it's not the end
of the world. If you have baseline defense, you're making
the guy work for all the takedowns, right, even if
you if you're not saying it's you don't need to
not give up takedowns, right, I think it's okay to
give up takedowns, but you need to make that guy

(01:03:53):
work and make the adjustments on the go. So I mean,
we can we can dive down this rabbit hole and
really get. And that's what I mean when you talk
when you ask the question, what am I most passionate
when when it comes to talking about wrestling, is just
kind of seeing what it takes to be a champion
and what other people think it takes to be other
to be a champion, and kind of, you know, evolving

(01:04:13):
that because everything involves with the times and we're all
constantly you know, thinking about it, talking about it, adjusting it,
seeing how we can get you lead the horse to water.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
Essentially, what's it been like being around Jordan Burrows? Because
in my opinion, if you consider a number of different things,
I think JB is the goat.

Speaker 3 (01:04:35):
I remember meeting him for the first time, and uh,
I just what I remembered about him, and uh, from
the first time I met him, I remember it was
in first time I personally met him was in Uh
we were at a training camp in San Diego, I believe,
and uh it's me Buxton, JB and Joey mccaranna. I believe.

(01:04:56):
We're in the backseat and we're driving over to grab
dinner or something. And I knew JB and I had
spoken words words to him before, but Buckston was just
like JB, this is Darien, Darren, this is JB. Nice
to me, Like I want you guys to get to
know each other. And I remember one of the coolest
things that uh from that conversation, which is how personal

(01:05:18):
he was and how personable he was. Like we had
a conversation and you know, obviously at the time he
was super credential, super accomplished, but uh, I really took
notice of how the next time, next conversation we had
at the OTC maybe months later, he brought up some
of the stuff we had talked about personally.

Speaker 2 (01:05:40):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
It wasn't just like, oh, hey, how you doing and
you know, I'll talk to you later. It was like
he like brought it up in the cafeteria specifically, I
remember him being like, oh, how you know, how's your
faith banner? You know, I remember you talking about you know,
your your wife at the time or you know your
girlfriend at the time. Like he brought up some stuff
that I had mentioned to him. And it just goes

(01:06:02):
to show like that whether he was or not, I
think he does this. He does an incredible job of
this is being very personable and like personable where he like,
you know, makes the point to kind of connect with
you in that situation.

Speaker 2 (01:06:18):
Last question I have for you, what role does your
faith play in your wrestling?

Speaker 3 (01:06:23):
Yeah, that's a great question, and I think that's the
most important important thing when it comes to anything you're doing,
especially the stage of my life. I think I was
actually having this conversation with two of our athletes over
lunch the other day. I think it's important, incredibly important
to have a lot of strength in your faith and

(01:06:44):
continuing to grow it. And you know, specifically having faith,
there's two things you can have. You can either have
faith or you can have fear, right, and there's no
roote they cannot co exist. Right. So if because if
you're fearful, that means you're not you don't have faith
in what you're doing, right, You don't trust in what
you're doing. And then on the flip side, if you

(01:07:04):
have faith and that everything is going to be a
cut okay, and you have faith that you you put
in the work, you have faith that you know you
know that you know God's will be done specifically in
my case, right like I put put all my faith
in in the Lord. It's like, then you can't have
any fear because you know it's whatever happens. You know

(01:07:25):
God's will be done. You know it's it's not good
or bad or negative or positive. It's just you know,
it is what it is. So it's like if you
have faith in something, you have faith in the hardware,
you have faith in your coaches, your faith in your Lord, right,
faith in there's then there's very little room for fear,
very little room for fear. So yeah, I think it
plays a huge part in in all areas coaching, competing, right, teaching,

(01:07:53):
whatever it may be.

Speaker 2 (01:07:55):
During this was great, This was this was fantastic. You
have an awe some perspective, great journey, and I just
really appreciate the time. It's it's just been fun getting
to know you a little bits over the years. Really
proud of your situations again on uh, on the Olympic experience,
and I'm I'm excited for your future and and continued

(01:08:16):
have fun being to dad with those little ones.

Speaker 3 (01:08:18):
Yeah, I appreciate you saying, I mean, this is always fun.
We can when we can chop it up and and
catch up and yeah, you're you're one of those guys
that I remember talking to so long ago. UH, And
just the relationship we've created and seeing you dear thing
is freaking awesome too. Man. I'm you know, extremely proud
of the person that you've become and that you're consuing

(01:08:38):
to become and the you know, the leader and the
influence that you have on I just, you know, the
sport in general is is pretty incredible. So again I'm
excited to have been able to have had the opportunity
to be here and and and have this conversation with you.

Speaker 2 (01:08:52):
Well, I appreciate the kind words and looking forward to
a crossing the paths very soon.

Speaker 3 (01:08:57):
Thanks again, appreciate you saying K

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Darian Cruz: From the Lehigh Valley to the Olympic Games - Go Earn It Ep. 36

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Darian Cruz: From the Lehigh Valley to the Olympic Games - Go Earn It Ep. 36