Darian Cruz admitted that it was nice to run the show at Bethlehem Catholic for a season. And while running the show weren't his exact words, the process of having his senior season to lead Bethlehem Catholic's wrestling program was something that Cruz enjoyed.

With his older brother Randy always being apart of his wrestling life, Cruz admitted that it was refreshing to be the boss for one year.

"I enjoyed being away from my brother for a little bit," said Cruz. "I'm sure he enjoyed being away from me too. One good thing about being the only Cruz in the room is that you don't have to worry about which Cruz the coaches are referring to when they call your name."

The Cruz name is one that the coaches, fans and administration at Bethlehem Catholic wish they could call in the future, as the departed senior walks away with a 153-8 career record, along with three district and regional titles and two state championships.

It's part of the reason Darian Cruz is this year's Athlete of the Year for Bethlehem Catholic.

Another reason is the indelible mark he and his brother have left on the program, as the Hawks have won three straight PIAA team titles to transform a once mid-level program into one of the country's best over the past four years.

That transformation did come with a price, however, as outsiders view of Becahi's wrestling program isn't one that's showered with compliments, rather, the exact opposite, as allegations of recruiting soured the public opinion of the program.

It's an undeniable reality for any Catholic school sports program that sees a sudden rise and one that Cruz was certainly familiar with.

"All that stuff that people would say really did motivate us to be better as a whole team," said Cruz. "A lot of people would respect me and some of the other guys and tell us that they thought we were really good wrestlers, but we also understood what people were saying about our program. There's really not much you can do about that, except go out and compete."

Now, Cruz moves onto the next stage of competition as he travels to Bethlehem's South Side to attend Lehigh, where he'll compete at 125-pounds his freshman year.

He'll be back in the mix with his older brother Randy and former teammate Elliot Riddick, as the former Golden Hawks look to be a future core of the Mountain Hawk program.

"I definitely want to win a national title," Cruz said. "I'll do whatever the coaches ask of me and I just want to work hard. Having Randy and Elliot back in the room definitely gives you a home feel and something that I'm familiar with from our time at Becahi."

As Cruz finished up one of his Sports History classes he's taking over the summer at Lehigh, one of the topics that will eventually come up in the class is the origin of wrestling and how it was one of the first sports ever created.

It's been a staple of the Olympic Games since the inception of the sport, dating back to 708 BC.

Now that wrestling is scheduled to be pulled from the 2016 games in Brazil, the cloud of uncertainty that engulfs the sports governing body is too big to avoid.

One of Cruz's life-long dreams was to compete in the Olympics and he knows that's in jeopardy, but he won't change his mindset about what he hopes to further achieve in this sport.

"I'm going to continue to train for the Olympics," he said. "I hope they decide to add wrestling back into the games. I'm training for it like it's still going on. It's funny that I'm learning about the first sports in history in this class and to also be involved in a situation like this now. The entire wrestling community can only hope that the decision gets reversed."

One thing that will always remain is the importance the likes of the Cruz brothers have not only had on Becahi wrestling, but also District 11.

It's a rare feat to see two brothers come through a program only a year apart and reign over competition like they did.

When a spectacle like this will occur again is anyone's guess. Darian acknowledged he still has a 12-year-old brother coming up, but that he's still deciding if wrestling is for him.

One thing that can't be up for question, is what sport is for Darian.

"It's going to be fun working together with [Randy] again in the room," said Cruz. "We definitely missed each other. We push each other in the room and it made us better in high school. I hope that's what happens again in college."