Senior Natasha Cruz stepped into Frisco’s Comerica Center Saturday with a bit of nerves, but a whole lot of determination and hope to prove her strength for not only her school, but herself.
Cruz made history by becoming not only the first female WFISD powerlifter to win a state title, but the first Rider powerlifter as well. She also set a new district record for bench press at 270 pounds and totaled 1,145 pounds in the 220 class, cementing her own legacy as a high school athlete and closing out the program with a bang.
“It just feels unreal,” Cruz said. “Just hearing that all day it still just feels unreal, but it just makes me even more proud of myself and how I was back then. I didn’t really care as much, but this year I started caring more and more and I wanted more for myself and I just wanted to show people what I still have in me for my last year.”
After her final lift, Cruz was overcome with emotions of gratitude, but also sadness in having to say goodbye to a team and program that has meant so much to her.
“Coach (Bill) Davison was just saying words throughout the meet that were hitting me,” Cruz said. “We get our knees wrapped for squats and he was like ‘this is my last time wrapping you.’ And then after I got done with my third squat, he was like ‘this is the last squat of Rider High School powerlifting.’ It just hit me hard after that last deadlift. I just hugged Davison to say thank you for how much he’s guided me through this journey and everything.”
Cruz will now spend the next few weeks preparing for nationals next month in Louisiana as a part of a different federation before going on to join the powerlifting team at UTSA. She wants to continue to pursue the sport professionally and acknowledges that her competition will be difficult, but she’s up to the challenge.
“I’ll definitely have a long road ahead of me, but I still want to continue it,” Cruz said. “I’m not going to give up on this now. I’ve gone so far and I’ve worked so hard so I want to keep it up for sure.”
Cruz loves lifting because it has given her so many opportunities and provided a safe space for her to escape her worries when she went through some hard times at home earlier in her high school career.
“Once I got to lifting, I was distracted and I wasn’t thinking about all that bad stuff,” Cruz said. “It brought joy to me. It was a coping mechanism.”
Most of all, Cruz is grateful for the support from her coaches and family who helped her immensely through this process.
“At the end I just felt so much joy because I was thankful for what I worked hard for,” Cruz said. “Coach Davison got me there from his coaching. I know he’s going to say he didn’t do much, but for me he did a lot. He got me back after what happened at regionals last year.”
“And of course my family. The night before we left, my dad gave me a huge speech that really got to me. It hit me hard. He just told me to win it for myself and to prove everyone wrong. That speech really picked me up. My siblings also, they explained to me how far I’ve gone and encouraged me to go out with a bang, to make history, and that’s what I did.”
