By RAUL GARCIA JR | CLOSE COMBAT MAGAZINE
Close Combat Magazine had a chance to catch up with Olivia, Lansing Eastern’s first female wrestler in Eastern’s rich wrestling history to advance to the Michigan High School Athletic Association State Finals. Here is what she had to say.
Q: What is your current season personal (wins-loss) record?
A: Im not sure.
Q: Who are your wrestling coaches?
A: Coach Arnold “AP” Pulliam, Jeff Savage and Matt Nguyen.
Q: What do you love most about wrestling?
A: The winning and the encouragement. What I love most about wrestling is beating boys! It gives me a nice feeling about myself and hearing my teammates complement me about it. And when I do a take down or move and hear the crowd go “OHHH” or “WOW” it’s a great feeling.
Q: What’s your signature wrestling move?
A: My signature take down is the Double Leg take down.
Q: Who is your favorite wrestler?
A: Lansing Eastern’s Kevin Jackson
Q: Who is the greatest wrestler of all time?
A: Lansing Eastern’s Kevin Jackson
Q: What is your best memory on the wrestling team?
A: So Far getting into State and my coaches being proud of me for it. And riding legs, I never did that in a match before and it was insane!
Q: Who has helped you become the wrestler you are today?
A: My coaches for believing in me and motivating me. They have helped me and supported me to improve and more. My teammates have also helped me for giving me tips and being there at practice to support me.
Q: Do you recommend wrestling to others, why or why not?
A: Wrestling is a hard sport, it can be emotional and it’s tuff. It is also not like any other sport. But it can be exciting, and you get to travel. You become apart of a team that becomes a family. It can be fun, and you can feel good about yourself and feel you accomplished something. So yes, I recommend wrestling to other.
Q: What do you like most about being on the wrestling team?
A: The encouragement my coach’s give me to do my best and better.
Q: How do you prepare for your next match?
A: Before a match we run for a little while to sweat but not for too long where we are out of breath. Then we do our dynamics and stretches. We’re told to think through the match and plan our moves and how to set it up.
Q: What is your goal for this wrestling season?
A: I don’t really have a goal, but it would be to win my matches and become Lansing Eastern’s first female State Champion.
Q: What is one of your goals for after high school?
A: To be successful.
Q: What is your favorite classroom subject?
@tanyagarcia321 #oliviadelacruz made the #superintendente email #soproud #goingtostate #girlswrestletoo #sheabaddie ♬ Ice spice in ha mood x show stoppers by hunny bee – Hunny Bee 😈
A: Wrestling
Q: What is your dream school/university?
A: I guess it would be to go to MSU like my Mom did, or U of M mostly U of M because it’s a better school.
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: Don’t have one, to many to choose from.
Q: What is your favorite song/music artist?
A: Don’t have one, if I listen to a song to many times it just ends up getting annoying. So I don’t have one.
Q: What actor would play you in a Hollywood movie?
A: Jenna Ortega
Love it!! Keep up the good work!!