After his successful Paris Olympics endeavor, Sebastian Rivera has chosen Columbia University as his next element to concentrate on. The 26-year-old has had a favorable connection to his previous fold, Rutgers’ wrestling coaches. Still, he decided to break his relationship with the camp and follow his mentor, Donnie Pritzlaff, to the Paris Olympics. After leaving Rutgers, Pritzlaff moved to NYC this June as the head coach in the wrestling wing. Rivera will now join him as his deputy.
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However, he made some shocking claims about Penn State Wrestling in a new podcast episode. “I mean, like obviously, Penn State’s light years is ahead of everybody, but it’s going to change really fast. Everybody’s leaving,” he stated on the ‘Champ and The Tramp’ podcast.
His statement was quite shocking considering how good Penn State Wrestling is considered. Penn State has produced a total of six Olympians; Two of them won medals in the Olympics (until the 2021 Tokyo Olympics). David Taylor won the gold medal in Tokyo. Now, he has moved on to coaching and accepted a position as Oklahoma State’s head coach.
But when Rivera spoke about Penn State Wrestling and that everybody was leaving, hosts Frankie and Roger Mathews couldn’t believe his initial words. After all, under Cael Sanderson’s coaching, the wrestling program has almost touched the sky. PSU had the highest number of wrestlers participating in the US Olympic wrestling trials, including names like Aaron Brooks.
However, Rivera stood firm in his answer. He added, “A lot of them are just done. Like, no, are you gonna wrestle anymore? You’re doing a lot of Jiu-Jitsu.” Rivera also disclosed that he had received a call from none other than Bo Nickal, requesting him to join PSU as a wrestler.
The MMA fighter changed his stream of sports a long ago. However, the alum still has a dear connection with the Penn State wrestling den. It was exemplified in his helping Aaron Brooks earn glory at the trials and afterward.
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Regardless, Rivera is not sure how long Penn State will remain at the top. As per his admission, they are looking for new guys as most of their top wrestlers have left. The absence of Zain Retherford and Roman Bravo-Young could be a reason as well. But the camp still has several names that can earn the big prize on a given day.
Sebastian Rivera’s wrestling favorite has a successor in the PSU
In Frankie Edgar’s podcast, Sebastian Rivera justified David Taylor’s move to the Oklahoma State University camp as the wrestling head coach. However, in PSU camp, he has left behind a successor in Aaron Brooks. The 86-kg freestyle wrestler has earned the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
Undoubtedly, PSU coach Cael Sanderson has contributed largely to developing the wrestler. Meanwhile, in his U20 World Championships as well, the PSU coach played an important role. That almost matched with David Taylor’s wrestling endeavor. The only difference is Taylor won an Olympic gold. Notably, Brooks has yet to announce his decision to change the camp. On the other hand, Carter Starocci is still at large.
The four-time national champion is eyeing his next opportunity, after earning another year of eligibility because of the COVID-19 disruptions. Rumor has it that he might move to a new weight class in the coming season. But the fans believe in his ability to cope with new challenges.
In the meantime, PSU freshmen Luke Lilledahl and Zack Ryder are just one victory away from becoming the U20 world champion. In such a situation, what do you think about PSU’s downgrade, as Sebastian Rivera shared? Let us know.
