Beyond the Mat - Isaiah Cromwell

Vice President Isaiah Cromwell. Not the title one would expect a typical college freshman to carry. But like many of F&M’s freshman, saying Cromwell is typical fails to do him justice.

Scanning through F&M’s stat sheets, Cromwell’s name doesn’t appear too often. In fact, Cromwell has yet to participate in a dual match this season. However, just because he hasn’t had a huge impact on the mat so far, Cromwell has made his presence felt elsewhere, which, in many ways, trumps anything he could accomplish as a wrestler.

A product of Newark, NJ, Cromwell has faced his fair share of obstacles. Growing up, Cromwell was exposed to much of the crime and dysfunction Newark is known for.

“Newark New Jersey is really a struggling city with a lot of violence,” Cromwell said. “But right now we’re in a state of change. We have a mayor who’s great and who’s one of my mentors. He motivates me. He’s preparing Newark for the future.”

The second part of that statement is what Cromwell holds on to when he thinks of his hometown. For all the struggles and the obstacles Cromwell has faced during his time in Newark, he has chosen to focus on the bright future Newark has with Mayor Cory A. Booker at the helm. Perhaps that is why Cromwell has been so heavily involved in the non-profit organization Embracing Arms, Inc.

Founded by his mother, Cromwell has dove head first into the organization and is the acting Vice President for Embracing Arms. According to Cromwell, Embracing Arms engages in a wide variety of community service projects aimed at strengthening the ties between those within the neighborhoods of Newark.

“[The goal of] Embracing Arms is to bridge the gap between the elderly and the youth in the community of Newark, New Jersey,” Cromwell said. “Right now, there’s just chaos, it’s not really a community. We’re trying to bring the unity back to community slowly.”

“My mother is the brains behind the organization,” Cromwell continued. “The reason [we started Embracing Arms]? We just wanted to start our own organization to get involved in the community. We started in about seven years ago. We feed the homeless on holidays; we take children on educational trips. We try to get kids out of the city. It’s good for them to see the world and see the country.”

While Cromwell has given a lot back to the community through his organization, he has learned just as much from those he has helped. These lessons have kept Cromwell grounded and given him an appreciation for what he has.

“Especially from feeding the homeless,” Cromwell said when asked about what his experience with Embracing Arms has taught him. “Now I never take life for granted because you never know what can happen. I just try to be kind to them because you might need them someday. You might that homeless person someday, so never take anything for granted.”

“Just show everyone respect.”

At F&M, Cromwell hopes to continue to make a difference with his life. Although its cliché, Cromwell’s desire is to become president and to make an impact in the world around him. He genuinely hopes to one day be an agent for change both in his hometown and the country at large.

Cromwell aims to be a government major and hopes to turn that degree and his experiences outside the classroom into a law career and eventually into a career in the public sector.

“I plan on becoming a lawyer and working on education reform law,” Cromwell said. “After that I want to run for office and become mayor of Newark, New Jersey. [I want to] run for president, change the world.”

Impacting those around him in a positive manner is Cromwell’s highest priority. It’s also one of the most interesting parts of his personality. Just doing the bare minimum doesn’t satisfy Cromwell. Going above and beyond what is normally expected is what he demands of himself.

As a wrestler, even though he has seen little time on the mat, Cromwell has maintained lofty goals for himself. Much like his pursuits and activities outside wrestling, Cromwell expects more from himself than just about anyone else. One of the few exceptions may be his mother, who never allowed Cromwell to stray when he was a kid growing up in Newark.

“My mother, she kept me focused,” Cromwell said. “She got me into a great high school and that’s where I started wrestling. I never had time to play in the streets. The sun came up and I was in school and then the sun came down and I was at home. I didn’t have time to be involved in all that other nonsense.”

Cromwell got involved in wrestling more or less by chance. The sport was not one he thought about much during his childhood. In fact, basketball was Cromwell’s first love, and he hoped one day to take his talents to the NBA. Unfortunately, that dream was not meant to be, as Cromwell was cut from his high school squad and was told he did not have the body to be a basketball player.

It was at that point he turned to wrestling.

“I was kind of forced to wrestle when I couldn’t make my high school basketball team,” Cromwell said. “They sat me down and said, ‘Hey, you’ve got the body of wrestler.’ I said, ‘I don’t want to wrestle!’ I thought wrestling was what I saw in WWE with the slamming chairs and I didn’t want to be a part of that. I wanted to go to the NBA.”

“They kind of had to force me into it,” Cromwell added. “Fortunately, I stuck with it because I started to like it.”

Like so many others on F&M’s wrestling team, Cromwell has drawn a great deal from his time as a wrestler. The sport has taught him a lot about life and how to persevere through struggles. Cromwell is used to facing seemingly insurmountable tasks on the mat and he has tried to translate that into his experience off it.

“I believe wrestling is a little different than other sports because I believe it does teach you life skills,” Cromwell said. “It has taught me to persevere. When you’re on the bottom, you have to get up. You have to do it step-by-step and just get off the bottom. Sometimes, you just want to give up, but you have to understand that you can’t. [Giving up] shows mental weakness. So you have to try and overcome that mental weakness. After that, everything else is easy.”

So far in his young collegiate career, Cromwell has not let his lack of time on the mat dampen his spirits or his goals. They remain the same as when he first took to the mat.

“My goal as a wrestler is to be a champion,” Cromwell said. “I just want to win. But the sport of wrestling is about more than just winning. If I become a champion, it shows everybody out there and myself that I’m a hard worker and that I have overcome all my struggles. It’s those who work the hardest who are the champions. I just want to work hard and become a champion.”

Cromwell for the most part is a fairly quiet kid. He’s not the loudest one on the bench and he’s not one to announce his presence. But that does not diminish what he has accomplished, nor does it put a limit on what he hopes to achieve.

From working hard on the mat to working to serve others in his community off it, Cromwell aims to make a positive impact in the lives of everyone he comes across. Even if he never does become a national champion on the mat, he’s already well on his way to becoming a champion off it.

Beyond the Mat - Robert Ruiz

For some, it takes years of practice. For others, it seems natural. Much like any other sport, wrestling features both those who started young and worked tirelessly before they determined wrestling was their sport of choice and those who stepped on the mat and knew almost instantaneously. Neither group works harder than the other. The sport just resonates with people at different times.

Robert Ruiz, a 133-pound freshman, the latter group is closest to his wrestling experience. Ruiz, despite his relative inexperience on the mat, has stepped into the spotlight that is division one wrestling and excelled in his first year. Most recently, Ruiz captured the Messiah Open title for his weight class.

It wasn’t until 2006 Ruiz picked up wrestling. He still considers himself new to the sport, but that does not mean he lacks the skill, drive, or work ethic necessary to compete at the highest levels of competition. In fact, Ruiz has excelled ever since he first stepped onto the mat.

“I started wrestling in November 2006,” Ruiz said. “I’m still new to the sport. I saw wrestling for the first time when I was 14 or 15. When I saw it, I was like, ‘What is this?’ When I first stepped on the mat, I took down this 171-pounder and I knew wrestling was something I wanted to stick with. I never thought twice about wrestling.”

In a way, wrestling was a blessing for Ruiz. The sport has kept him dedicated and kept him focused. Growing up in Hartford, Ruiz described his childhood days as “kind of ghetto.” While many of his friends fell by the wayside, Ruiz elected to stay true to his newfound passion. It kept him on the straight and narrow and now, when he returns home, many of the friends he used to hang out with wish they had listened to Ruiz more when they had the chance.

“I grew up in Hartford. A lot of my friends were out there and they started just hanging out and doing drugs,” Ruiz said. “I go back to Hartford and see my friends and they always say they should’ve listened to me more. I never really followed anybody, except for my teachers and my mother, of course.”

“Wrestling has made me…ever since kindergarten I was very focused,” Ruiz added. “My Mom taught me everything I needed to know. I mean everything about everything.”

Talking to Ruiz is a fascinating experience. When he discusses his childhood, background, and where he’s come from, it’s clear he has beaten the odds. He speaks of experiences and situations that few can imagine, let alone claim to understand. However, intertwined within all the tales and experiences is his mother. For Ruiz, even before wrestling began to influence him, his mother was the one who ensured he wouldn’t stray from the right path.

Ruiz likes to tell a story about how, one day during his early childhood years, he picked up a twenty-dollar bill off the street. He brought it home with him and, as soon as his mother came home from work, she could tell something was wrong. Rather than hide and keep the money for himself, Ruiz turned it over to his mother so she could at least try and find its owner.

Unfortunately, as life progressed, Ruiz’s mother fell on hard times, turning to drugs like many of his friends had done. For someone who loved and respected her so much, it was difficult for Ruiz to take it all in and accept what was happening.

“From the middle of eighth grade to the beginning of 2010 I only had very brief encounters with my mother,” Ruiz said. “She was in and out of rehab. It was very tough and I knew I couldn’t help her. I feel like I dealt with it really well though.”

Part of the reason Ruiz coped with the situation well was due to his surroundings. After making his way through public school, Ruiz went on to the Salisbury School in Salisbury, CT. It was there Ruiz surrounded himself with good people and began to absorb wrestling

“After I went to public school I went to the Salisbury School for four years,” Ruiz said. “It helped me out a bunch because it was a small school and I just became friends with the right people.”

“I had the same roommate for three years and he and his family took me in,” Ruiz said. “My roommate helped me out a lot. But I was able to help him out a lot too. I got him to start wrestling and he eventually began to lose weight and he became an athlete, which he wasn’t before.”

At Salisbury, his high school wrestling coach Paul Myers and his club coach John Knapp pressed Ruiz and made sure he didn’t fall behind. Both Myers and Knapp “believed in [Ruiz] and never” gave him the chance to fail. It was here wrestling began to develop and play a prominent role in Ruiz’s life.

At F&M, Ruiz hopes to take his broad range of experiences and draw on them so as to positively impact the community around him. He hopes to impact F&M and the broader community in ways other than through his wrestling experiences.

“I want to get to do work in the community in Lancaster,” Ruiz said. “I’ve given a few talks about making the right choices. Hopefully I can inspire people. I grew up at one point without couches and we moved around because my mother was into drugs. From nothing to something.”

From a wrestling standpoint, Ruiz hopes to capitalize on his relatively young passion and reach his full potential. Given what he has overcome to get to this point, achieving his goals and reaching his dreams on the mat seem almost simplistic and unchallenging.

“I want to be a part of the change on the wrestling team,” Ruiz said. “I want to be a part of bringing the team to a new level. I want to be a national champion. I’m physically capable, but I just need to grow a little bit stronger mentally.”

Off the mat, Ruiz is a fascinating character. In some ways, he’s a bit contradictory. How many wrestlers aspire to write Spanish poetry in their spare time? He loves inventions. Ruiz is an inquisitive kid, one who loves challenging the norm and exploring different ways to approach the world. Abiding by the social norms is not part of who Ruiz is.

“I like to play a little squash when I get a break,” Ruiz said when asked what he does for fun. “I love to meet with my professors and talk about stuff that we don’t necessarily talk about in class, about the world in general. I want to be a geology major.”

“I like to write Spanish poetry,” Ruiz continued. “I’m fluent in Spanish. It’s easy for me, it just flows. I also love inventions. Anything that makes stuff easier. Anything that’s causing a problem is something I want to fix.”

Ruiz is quite possibly the most fascinating character you will meet. His interests, his desires, and his past make him special. He is the epitome of well rounded and he is the ideal candidate an institution like F&M looks for. His personality is diverse and it only serves to strengthen him.

Combined with several other fascinating and talented individuals, Ruiz is one of the freshmen that ensure the Diplomats have a bright future. Both on the mat and off it, Ruiz is an ambassador for what people look for. It’s hard not to like him and, just by speaking to him, it’s easy to have an easier appreciation for life and what it means to live it to the fullest.

Beyond the Mat - Richard Durso

Squaring off against many of his competitors, Richard Durso is the young one. As a freshman, he’s relatively inexperienced and lacks the seasoning of his older wrestling counterparts who have been around the block a few times. But that hasn’t slowed him down.

With 16 victories, the first-year 141-pounder has more wins than anyone else on the F&M squad. He has established a high standard for himself, and he is one of several reasons to be excited about what lies ahead for F&M wrestling. Durso is excited about what he has accomplished thus far, but recognizes the need to keep working and to remain hungry.

“It feels good,” Durso said when asked about his fast start. “It looks like a good road from here. However, you just can’t be satisfied with where you’re at. At F&M, there is a lot of good competition. I’ve already gotten better in the few months I’ve been here. To get better here requires a lot of heart.”

Despite his accomplishments as a wrestler, Durso was not always enamored by the sport. He had to be coaxed by those around him to stay with the sport, and he admits the first years as a wrestler were not always kind. He struggled to catch on and it wasn’t until high school that he really began to enjoy the sport.

“I have been wrestling since kindergarten,” Durso said. “My Dad asked if I wanted to go out [for wrestling] as a kid and I said yes. I didn’t love it at first. I cried after my first practice. It wasn’t until high school that I really started to love it.”

That image is a far cry from what Durso has become. He is the leader of what many hope will be a rejuvenation of the program. Along with the other members of his freshman class, Durso believes the goal of restoring the Diplomats to prominence can be achieved. He’s a quiet guy, but beneath the soft, reserved exterior is a passionate kid. He wants to win and he wants to be remembered as one of the wrestlers who helped F&M bounce back.

“When it comes to wrestling, I hope the freshman class is the start of a new tradition,” Durso said. “When I graduate, I want to know we helped start a new tradition here. I want to know we started to turn the program around.”

Although he exudes confidence and truly believes F&M is on the verge of turning around what was recently a sputtering program, he realizes the task will require a great deal of work and dedication. It will need to come not only from himself and his fellow freshman, but from everyone involved with the program as well. He may have more wins than anyone else on the team, but he acknowledges the tremendous contributions and guidance that comes from everyone around him.

In particular, Durso singled out Matt Fullowan as someone he hopes to emulate and hopes his class will take after as they continue to grow and develop into the leaders of the program.

“Fullowan is a great influence,” Durso said. “I look up to what he’s doing. He’s always working and making the sure the freshmen are staying hungry.”

It may take awhile, but Durso is convinced that, with a little heart, he and his teammates can accomplish a lot in there time at F&M.

“Heart goes a long way,” Durso said. “With it, you can pretty much accomplish anything. Not just in wrestling, but in the business world as well. It’s the key to everything.”

Durso’s quote about heart and how it translates to the world outside wrestling is indicative of how Durso views the world. He’s a division one wrestler, but at the same time, he is cognizant of the world off the mat. He recognizes he cannot focus solely on wrestling.

Likewise, Durso is humble when it comes to his status. At a primarily division three school, he believes that wrestling at the division one level does not make him any more special than his athletic counterparts, nor does it mean he works harder than they do. He is held to the standard that every other athlete at F&M is, and he likes that. In Durso’s mind, every athlete at F&M is on an equal footing. Everyone works hard to excel at his or her respective craft.

“Hard work,” Durso said when asked what it takes to combine the rigors of a division one sport with the academic demands he faces in the classroom. “I really have to stay on top of it. It’s a division one sport, but you can’t let it go to your head. It may be a little tougher competition, but everyone is putting in that same hard work.”

Durso is perhaps one of the most well rounded individuals on the wrestling team. In high school, Durso placed an emphasis on his studies and he did his best to acquire as many friends as he could. He has continued these efforts in college, aspiring to be a business major and seeking out friendships both within and outside the wrestling program.

“I like to stay on top of my schoolwork,” Durso said. “I also want to be remembered as a good guy. I want to be remembered as a good friend. I’ve already made a ton of friends outside the team.”

“In high school, I had a very large group of friends,” Durso added. “I spent a lot of time outside with my friends. I like to be outside doing things rather than sitting inside on a couch.”

Durso credits these friendships and his adventurous personality with keeping him focused and ambitious during his years leading up to college.

It isn’t hard to believe Durso has amassed a large friendship base throughout both his high school and college tenures. Despite his quiet nature, he is a likable individual. Sitting at a table in the College Center, teammate Colin Ely leaned over his shoulder and told me Durso was a “stellar athlete, model citizen, and has the most sock savvy on the team.”

Quirks like Durso’s stylish socks are what make people want to hang around him. When asked about what Ely meant when he said “sock savvy,” Durso replied, “Always gotta have a good appearance. Look fresh. I always have to make sure the colors are matching.”

He may be quiet, but he’s the kind of guy people want to be around. A lot of that comes from his humble nature. He may have more wins than any other wrestler at F&M, but he hasn’t lost focus and recognizes he still has much to learn. In his mind, the seniors still run the ship and he is still trying to absorb as many tidbits of information from them as he possibly can. In short, Durso has a burning desire to improve and is convinced that to do so will require hard work and attention to detail. He could let his early success go to his head, but he has chosen to remain grounded.

Perhaps that is a product of what the sport has taught him over the years.

“Wrestling teaches you mental toughness,” Durso said. “A lot of it is a mix of natural talent and hard work. You can’t have the former without the latter, however.”

If Durso is indicative of what the future is like for the F&M wrestling program, there is much to like. Durso has launched a successful career at F&M and he is eager to reach his full potential. He may not be as outgoing as Ely or as physically imposing as some of his wrestling counterparts, but he wrestles as if he has been around the block more than a few times.

He’s come a long way from crying after his first practice. Durso will be a leader for F&M wrestling for years to come.