On the Mat and Beyond: Darlene Suarez’s Journey to College of the Redwoods Wrestling

Published on Apr 28 2026

Before a match begins, while other athletes put in headphones and disappear into music, Darlene Suarez does the opposite. She listens. To the room, to the movement around her, to her own thoughts.

“I can’t listen to music,” she says. “I need to think. What I’ve been practicing, what works, what I’m going to do.”

That focus has become part of who she is on the mat, but wrestling was not always part of her life. In fact, Suarez did not know much about the sport until high school.

She grew up in Azusa in Southern California before moving north to Shasta County during her junior year. The move was a personal decision to split her high school years between both parents, but it also meant starting over.

“I didn’t really know anyone,” she says. “Then the first two people I met were on the wrestling team, and they told me I should join.”

So she did.

With no experience and no expectations, Suarez stepped onto the mat for the first time. What began as a way to meet people quickly became something much more. By her first tournament, she had already placed second.

“I was shocked,” she admits. “That’s when I thought, maybe I really like this.”

What kept her coming back was not just winning. It was the nature of the sport itself. Wrestling gave her something she had not found in other activities.

“It’s both a team sport and an individual sport at the same time,” she explains. “You train with your team, you support each other, but when you’re out there, it’s just you. I like that responsibility.”

Now competing for College of the Redwoods, Suarez has taken that mindset to the next level. Transitioning from high school wrestling to the college level meant adapting quickly, not just to stronger opponents but to a different style of competition.

In high school, she wrestled folkstyle. In college, women compete in freestyle, which moves faster and demands constant action.

“It was an adjustment,” she says. “You get used to one style, and then you have to change. But I like learning it.”

What many people do not realize, Suarez says, is just how strategic wrestling really is.

“You’re constantly analyzing,” she explains. “You’re looking at your opponent. Are they taller, shorter, what are they good at? You’re thinking the whole time.”

That ability to analyze has followed her off the mat as well. Wrestling, she says, has taught her to slow down, reflect, and stay aware, not just in competition but in life.

“You can’t just have tunnel vision,” she says. “You have to take a step back and look at everything. What you’re doing right, what you need to improve.”

Still, not all challenges happen during a match. For Suarez, one of the hardest parts of her journey has been distance.

“My mom is about ten or eleven hours away, and my dad is four hours away,” she says. “There were times I didn’t see them for months.”

Being away from family has tested her, but it has also helped her grow.

“You just learn to push through,” she says. “And it makes the time you do get with them even more important.”

On the mat, the challenges are physical. Injuries are part of the sport, and Suarez has had her share, from sprained ankles to a broken hand. Even those setbacks have not taken away her enthusiasm. If anything, they have shaped the way she approaches the sport. That balance of intensity and joy carries over into how she approaches competition. Whether she wins or loses, Suarez makes a point to connect with her opponents.

“I’ll shake their hand, hug them, talk to them after,” she says. “It’s competitive, but it’s also really respectful.”

It is one of the biggest misconceptions she wishes people understood about wrestling, especially women’s wrestling.

“People think it’s just aggressive,” she says. “But it’s actually a really supportive community. Some of the nicest people I’ve met are through wrestling.”

That community is also growing. Women’s wrestling is one of the fastest rising sports in the country, and Suarez has seen that growth firsthand.

“It’s still new in a lot of places,” she says. “But it’s getting bigger. More girls are trying it.”

At College of the Redwoods, the program itself is still young, but athletes like Suarez are helping build its identity.

Even as she looks ahead to returning closer to home to continue her education, her connection to the program remains strong.

“I love this team,” she says. “That’s not going to change.”

Her coaches, especially, have left a lasting impression.

“Coach Kenzie always says I’m like her daughter,” Suarez says. “And it really feels like that.”

For Suarez, wrestling has become more than just a sport. It is a space where she has found confidence, discipline, and connection, all from a decision she made on a whim.

For anyone thinking about following a similar path, her advice is simple.

“Just go for it,” she says. “It’s hard, and you’ll want to quit sometimes. But once you get that first win, you will understand.”

And maybe more importantly, she adds, you will not be doing it alone. “You’ll find your people.”

In every match she wrestles, Darlene Suarez is proving that sometimes the boldest moves begin with simple yes.