THE LAST WORD
World medalist Justin Ruiz is a class act all the way
have met my share of great people in the sport of wrestling. Justin Ruiz is near the top of the list. I first met Justin in 2001 when he returned to the University of Nebraska after he served a two-year Mormon mission following his redshirt season in Lincoln. Ruiz was one of the nation’s top recruits coming out of Utah, but when I first met him he hadn’t been on a wrestling mat in more than two years. I was covering Nebraska wrestling for the Omaha World-Herald newspaper and he understandably had his share of struggles that first season on the varsity. His freshman season at 197 pounds just happened to be the senior season for Iowa State’s Cael Sanderson, who became the only college wrestler to go unbeaten in a four-year career. Ruiz showed me a lot about his character that first season at Nebraska. He had the unenviable task of facing Sanderson in his final home dual meet at Iowa State in 2002. Sanderson won the match decisively, but I remember Ruiz agreeing to come back out and do an interview with me. He credited Sanderson and put a positive spin on trying to finish the season strong. Ruiz was always very accessible to the media and very well- spoken. I interviewed him for a feature story on Cauliflower Ear, and his ear was photographed for the story. People would ask him about his gnarly ears and they would laugh when he joked that he couldn’t hear them.
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He finished strong that season, placing fifth in the 2002 NCAA tournament. He placed fifth again in 2003. Later that year, Ruiz competed in his first of six World Championships in Greco-Roman wrestling after 2000 Olympic bronze medalist Garrett Lowney suffered an injury. Ruiz was seeded No. 1 at the 2004 Olympic Team Trials, but lost to Lowney in the finals. Ruiz then won a World bronze medal in 2005, and made World Teams in 2006 and 2007. In early 2006, I flew out to Colorado Springs to interview for the position of communications manager at USA Wrestling.
During a tour of the Olympic Training Center, I ran into Ruiz in the cafeteria. As we said good- bye, Ruiz turned to USA Wrestling communications direc- tor Gary Abbott and said, “Make sure you hire Craig.” It is some- thing I have never forgotten.
Craig Sesker
Ruiz was a member of the U.S. team that won the World team title in 2007 in Baku, Azerbaijan, and he was heavily favored to make the Olympic Team in 2008. But Ruiz was upset by Adam Wheeler in the finals of the 2008 Olympic Trials at 96 kg/211.5 lbs. Wheeler went on to win a bronze medal at the Olympics. It was a crushing loss, as Ruiz broke down in tears, but he still came out to do interviews. Ruiz stepped away from wrestling in 2009, but he came back strong to place fifth at the 2010 Worlds. He did an excellent job writing blogs for USA Wrestling’s website,
TheMat.com. Ruiz made his sixth World Team in 2011, and looked poised to finally make his first Olympic Team this year. He had surgery after the 2011 Worlds, but came back strong and was selected to compete at Olympic qualifiers in Florida, China and Finland. He competed hard, like he always has, but fell short of qualifying the U.S. for the Olympics. Ruiz is a great family man as husband to his wife, Sarah, and father to his two young daughters, Brinklee and Bristol. You can bet he will be successful in whatever path he decides to pursue. Ruiz, who turns 33 this summer, did receive a chance to go out with a win, and did just that when he pinned a wrestler from the nation of Georgia in May’s Curby Cup in suburban Chicago. Justin Ruiz is a total class act all the way. He has been a great representative of his sport and his country. He didn’t make an Olympic Team in wrestling, but he will always be a champion in my book.
42 USA Wrestler
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