Hunter Cruz eyes third state berth, first title

MOSES LAKE — Hunter Cruz has never been one to back down from a challenge.

As a freshman at his first Tri-State Tournament, Cruz took state finalist Bryson Beard of Central Valley into overtime. Less than weeks later, Cruz squared off against then two-time state champion Michael Soler of Lake Stevens.

During the match, Cruz and Soler tangled up on their way out of bounds. The freshman leaped to his feet, returned to the center of the mat and motioned for the champ to come get some more.

“He’s very gritty,” head coach Jaime Garza said. “In this sport of wrestling you’ve got to have a lot of that. And I admire him to be able to take on the challenge... From that moment (against Beard), I knew there was something special about him because, like I said, he did not back down... He held his own and he stood his ground and I was very impressed with him after that.

“Moses Lake got to see what he did with Soler. I saw that a week, 10 days before that Lake Stevens dual and at that moment we knew there was someone special that we had as a freshman.”

Those early matches laid the groundwork for a successful first two years at Moses Lake; Cruz was a state participant in 2015 and placed fourth at Mat Classic XXVII last February in the 138-pound division.

However, Cruz’s Twitter biography reads “Striving for a state title” for a reason. The 152-pounder who pinned his way to a district championship this past weekend in Wenatchee will not be satisfied without the proper hardware.

Cruz began wrestling at the age of four, looking up to the rich tradition of the high school program.

“I just always think about what little kids are going to think of me when I’m gone,” he said. “They’re going to look up there and see my name somewhere. I want it to be under the champ because that’s what I did as a kid.”

Cruz is already on the fourth-place board. To get on the board a little farther to the left he will have to more than likely avenge his only loss of the season.

Union’s Tommy Strassenberg, who finished fourth at last year’s state tournament in the 152-pound weight class, handed Cruz his lone defeat in the finals of the Gut Check Invitational last month. Both wrestlers were able to get out from the bottom, but Strassenberg scored the lone take-down and won 3-1.

“In my opinion, in order for him (Cruz) to dismantle this guy, who is currently ranked No. 1, he is going to have to get offensive,” Garza said. “He’s going to have to chain three to four shots in one series to get in on a leg and finish that guy and take him down. They both can get off the bottom so the issue of can I tilt the guy, can I turn him — that’s a moot point at this point.

“It’s who’s going to get the take-down and who’s going to stop the take-down.”

Before a possible rematch with Strassenberg or a trip to the state tournament, Cruz and the rest of the Chiefs will try and punch their tickets to this year’s Mat Classic at the regional tournament at Curtis High School in University Place on Saturday.

A trip to Curtis means back-to-back bus rides to Tacoma. But regardless of the circumstance, Cruz will be there to make his opponent stress for six minutes — sometimes shorter.

“I just got a lot meaner this year and felt more dominant,” he said.