being an Olympian to be honest. I’ve always dreamt of winning the Olympics. I struggled after Trials and Mongolia because my family and friends were so excited and happy for me and I thought something was wrong with me because I didn’t feel it. Now I understand it’s because Trials and Mongolia weren’t the goal. They were pit stops on the way to the real goal and that is gold. This dream has helped shape me as a person by making me super disciplined with my choices in my everyday life. 9. Why did you choose to compete at King University? There were never any questions about where I would com-
pete in college. As soon as I decided I would wrestle in college, I knew there was no other place for me but King. The program is all-around the best place to be for WCWA. Jason Moorman is a phenomenal coach. He genuinely cares about each of his ath- letes. He gets to know us as people and it helps him coach us as wrestlers. Also, the team atmosphere is like none I’ve seen before. We inspire, push, and hold each other accountable and we have fun doing it. If you go to any dual tournament, you know King is the loudest team cheering for each other and it fires us up and I believe that is why we’ve been so successful the past three years. We are a very passionate team. 10. Tell us something about you that the wrestling com-
munity may not know about you. I am a crazy cat lady. I love cats so much. Recently, I discov-
ered that small dogs are pretty much the same as cats so lately I’ve been super obsessed with Chihuahuas. My Chihuahua is like my child. He lives at home in Lockport. My family tries to call him Buddy but I refuse to call him that so I call him Chico. Buddy is a golden retriever name not a Chihuahua but I’m his mother so he answers to Chico over Buddy. It drives my family crazy. 11. Explain the decision to take an Olympic redshirt year? About this time last year is when I told Jason that I would be
taking an Olympic Redshirt year. I was so nervous to tell him. I was afraid to disappoint him and the team. Before I even told him, he knew what I was going to say. The reason I made this decision had nothing to do with him as a coach or the team as training partners. I needed to put myself in a place with not as many distractions and temptations. It was a hard transition for me. I went from living with and next door to all my best friends to living alone and trying to make new friends all over again. I never realized how important it is to spend time alone until I moved to the OTC. If you never spend time alone, then you never face yourself. You never face your fears and doubts because you constantly have people around telling you how great you are. I think that really changed me as a wrestler. 12. Why did you decide to drop to 48 kg? One day last August, I just had this feeling that 48 was where
I needed to be. I planned on wrestling 48 at all the tournaments coming up before trials. Every time one of the tournaments got close, I would start to second-guess myself and just wrestle 53. My coaches and my dad really wanted me to make 48 for Universities but again when it came close, I backed out and wrestled 53. Trials were two weeks after Universities and I knew it was now or never so I really dedicated myself. The final cut down for weigh-ins turned out to be way easier than I anticipat- ed and I felt great the next day because of my recovery plan. I had another fairly easy cut in Mongolia. Once I changed my atti- tude and really committed to the weight class, I made it happen. 13. What went right for you at the Olympic Trials? I think I had a successful tournament because I went in to
Trials confident. I trusted in my training, conditioning, coaching, and myself. I expected to win. When I left my hotel in the morn- ing, I told myself, “The next time you look in this mirror, you’ll be an Olympian.” 14. You qualified yourself and the nation for the Olympics
in Mongolia. What was your approach to that challenge? It was definitely the most nervous I have ever been for a tour- nament in my life. I had a lot of negative thoughts going in to the tournament. I kept thinking, if I lost, that people would think that I wasn’t the one for the job and other girls could’ve done better. At weigh-ins, I told myself no more doubts and negativity. I knew I just had to be myself and the job would get done. I went into the tournament with the same mindset I went into Trials with. I wrestled smart and patient. I picked my opponents apart and teched all my opponents leading to the finals and qualified the weight. 15. When you have time off from training, what do you do
away from the sport? I really enjoy spending as much time as possible with my fam-
ily when I have time off. Wrestling is so demanding and takes your attention away from your loved ones a lot so when I have time off, I give them my full-undivided attention. I also love road trips, hiking, and playing with my pups. 16. What do you feel are your strengths as a wrestler? I think one of my greatest strengths is that I wrestle through
every position. I don’t fear certain positions because I know I can brawl through anything. I like when people shoot on me. I like a good scramble but I am confident that I can come out on top. It gives me a mental edge over my opponent. Another one of my strengths would definitely be my strength. I always felt strong at 53 but I feel like I capitalize on my strength at 48 even more. Every time I put my hands on my opponent, it’s with a purpose and sometimes it comes off as a mean style of wrestling but I don’t like touching someone unless it’s to get them to do something I want them to do. 17. What would you like to do after your career is over? After I am done competing, I really want to give back to the wrestling community. I feel like coaching is something I am very passionate about. I’ve had coaches that have impacted my life so much that they probably changed the course of my life. I really want to be able to give that to young women. I want to help girls and women find their purpose in this sport and in their lives and reach their goals. I want to help women’s wrestling grow in America. Other than coaching, I want a big family. I loved growing up with all my siblings. They are my best friends. I want to have a family and continue our love and traditions to my family. 18. How much do you enjoy international travel? When I was younger, traveling scared me and I found myself homesick a lot of the time. When I became more mature, I real- ized how lucky I was to have these opportunities to see the world. I love traveling. I love experiencing new cultures and places. My favorite place so far was Thailand. It was very differ- ent than America. It was beautiful but the people were all so nice and welcoming. 19. What is your favorite foods to eat when not managing
your weight? I love Mexican food. Tacos are by far my favorite. I mostly eat
my comfort food when I’m a couple months out of competition and don’t have to worry about my weight. 20. When you visualize yourself winning the Olympic
gold medal, what do you see in your mind? As far back as I can remember, even as a kid, every time I
heard the National Anthem, I would close my eyes and see my flag being raised in front of me with a gold medal around my neck. I still do to this day. When I visualize myself at the Olympics, that’s always the first place my mind goes. I also imagine hugging my family and sharing that amazing moment with the people who’ve loved me unconditionally, won or lost, throughout my whole wrestling career this far. I imagine it being a really special moment with them.
21 USA Wrestler
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