3x NCAA All-American Sebastian Rivera (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com; Graphic/Anna-Lee Marie)
These rankings have been compiled by members of the InterMat staff and used a combination of collegiate achievements, with 2021 accomplishments carrying more weight than past years, along with win-loss records and notable wins. While we are counting down the top-50 wrestlers based primarily on collegiate accomplishments, it is impossible to totally ignore achievements in the international settings, so they did factor in slightly, too.
Before getting to the next wrestler on the list, look at the wrestlers previously profiled:
#50 - Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)
#49 - Ben Darmstadt (Cornell)
#48 - Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)
#47 - Kaleb Young (Iowa)
#46 - Rocky Elam (Missouri)
#45 - Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska)
#44 - Brandon Courtney (Arizona State)
#43 - Brock Mauller (Missouri)
#42 - Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State)
#41 - John Poznanski (Rutgers)
#40 - Brayton Lee (Minnesota)
#39 - Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State)
#38 - Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa)
#37 - Tariq Wilson (NC State)
#36 - Jacob Warner (Iowa)
#35 - Jacori Teemer (Arizona State)
#34 - Tony Cassioppi (Iowa)
#33 - Vito Arujau (Cornell)
#32 - Patrick Glory (Princeton)
#31 - Max Dean (Penn State)
#30 - Keegan O'Toole (Missouri)
#29 - Mike Labriola (Nebraska)
#28 - Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh)
#27 - Austin DeSanto (Iowa)
#26 - Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh)
#25 - Evan Wick (Cal Poly)
#24 - Alex Marinelli (Iowa)
#23 - Ryan Deakin (Northwestern)
Next is…
#22 Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers)
Weight: 133/141 lbs
Year: Senior
Career Record: 86-15
Hometown: Toms River, New Jersey
College Accomplishments: 2021 NCAA 4th, 2020 NWCA 1st Team All-American, 2019 NCAA 3rd, 2018 NCAA 6th, 2x Big Ten Champion
2021-22 Preseason Ranking: #3 at 133 lbs
What a recruiting class for the Northwestern staff in 2016! The Wildcats signed #23 Ryan Deakin and #22 Sebastian Rivera, both of whom were multiple-time All-Americans for Northwestern. Like Deakin, Rivera took a redshirt during his first year in Evanston.
Rivera took three losses during his first two open competitions, two of which came to Central Michigan's Brent Fleetwood, a returning national qualifier. Rivera started to show what he was capable of at the Midlands. He finished fourth at the 125 lb weight class, losing only to Tim Lambert (Nebraska) and forfeiting out of the third-place match. Before that, Rivera logged wins over a trio of NCAA qualifiers (Travis Piotrowski - Illinois, Johnny Jimenez - Wisconsin, Shakur Laney - Ohio).
After the Midlands, Rivera captured a title at the Duhawk Open and defeated Jimenez again, along with Missouri's starter, Barlow McGee, a returning Round of 12 finisher.
Once officially in the lineup, during the 2017-18 season, Rivera hit the ground running and won his first 14 bouts in a Northwestern singlet. That span included a title at the Keystone Classic and ran all the way until the semifinals of the Midlands. There he was edged by another New Jersey native, Nick Suriano (Rutgers), 7-6. Rivera bounced back with a pair of wins, including a major decision over past NCAA finalist Zeke Moisey (West Virginia), to claim third.
During the home stretch of the 2017-18 dual season, Rivera went 6-2, with his only losses coming to the eventual national finalists, Spencer Lee (Iowa) and Suriano. Only one of the wins during that span saw Rivera limited to a regular decision.
At his first Big Ten Championship event, Rivera advanced to the semifinals before falling victim to a past national runner-up, Ethan Lizak (Minnesota), 3-2. In the consolation semis, he was majored by Lee, 12-0. Rivera went on to take fifth after Suriano medically forfeited out of the tournament. The fifth-place finish at the Big Ten was good enough to merit the tenth seed at his first NCAA Tournament.
Rivera's NCAA tournament debut featured a major decision victory over George Mason's Ibrahim Bunduka in round one. Things got more difficult in the Round of 16 as Rivera was paired with #7 Taylor LaMont (Utah Valley).
Relegated to the consolations, Rivera put together an impressive run to lock up a place on the NCAA podium. Rivera earned bonus points in two of his three bouts to clinch a spot in the top-eight. He didn't stop there and majored Ronnie Bresser (Oregon State) to climb into the top-six. A pair of previous national champions, Nate Tomasello (Ohio State) and Darian Cruz (Lehigh), defeated Rivera in his next two bouts, pushing him to sixth place. That finish made him the first Northwestern freshman All-American since 2015.
There was no such thing as a sophomore slump for Rivera, who won his first 20 matches during the 2018-19 season. Rivera went to sudden victory to knock off Bresser in the finals of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.
The Vegas win was nothing compared to Rivera's showing at the Midlands, less than a month later. Rivera teched four opponents to make the finals opposite 2018 national champion Spencer Lee. Rivera shocked the wrestling world with a 7-3 win over the Hawkeye, which elevated him to the number one ranking.
Rivera's only loss of the regular season came when he bumped up to 133 to take on the fellow unbeaten All-American Stevan Micic (Michigan). Though Rivera lost, he cemented his reputation as someone who's willing to compete against anyone, anywhere.
At the Big Ten Championships, Rivera proved his win over Lee was no fluke. While the margin of victory was not as great, the Wildcat prevailed in sudden victory to down Lee and win his first Big Ten title.
With two wins over Lee, a Big Ten title, and a record that included only one loss (at 133 lbs), Rivera was awarded the top seed at the 2019 NCAA Championships.
In Pittsburgh, Rivera advanced to the quarterfinals after a tech fall and a shutout win over Drew Mattin (Michigan) in the Round of 16. The quarters saw Rivera get by a challenge from a tough freshman Vito Arujau (Cornell), 6-2. The win locked up All-American honors for a second straight year and led him to the semis against Jack Mueller (Virginia). Mueller shocked Rivera with an early takedown and added a ton of riding time. Rivera never seemed to recover and was on the wrong side of an 8-2 bout.
Though disappointed, Rivera climbed back into third place with a pair of wins Saturday morning over longtime rival Patrick Glory (Princeton) and Arujau.
For the 2019-20 season, Rivera would move up to 133 lbs, which was a meatgrinder in the Big Ten. Rivera found that out firsthand at the Midlands, where he fell in an 8-7 shootout to 2018 NCAA champion, Seth Gross (Wisconsin) in the tournament's semis. He would end up third at the Midlands for the second time in his career.
After the Midlands, Rivera competed sparingly, only seeing action in two duals. That didn't seem to affect him at the Big Ten Championships as he ran the gamut and took out Piotrowski, Gross, and Roman Bravo-Young (Penn State), to win his second conference crown in front of his hometown crowd.
The Big Ten title was enough for the first seed at the 2020 NCAA Championships. Unfortunately, Rivera and the rest of the NCAA field could not compete due to the initial outbreak of Covid. Some of the notables on Rivera's half of the bracket include, #4 Micky Phillipi (Pittsburgh), #5 Bravo-Young, #8 Montorie Bridges (Wyoming), #9 Noah Gonser (Campbell). Based on his seed, Rivera was named an NWCA first-time All-American.
The reception Rivera received from the New Jersey crowd at the RAC on the campus of Rutgers University proved to be a sign of things to come. In the 2020 offseason, Rivera transferred back to his home state to wrestle for Scott Goodale's team as a graduate student.
All four of Rivera's regular-season contests for Rutgers came against NCAA qualifiers, though none came against elite contenders. He spent the entire year ranked in the top-three along with Jaydin Eierman (Iowa) and Nick Lee (Penn State). Finally, at the 2021 Big Ten Championships, Rivera met up with Lee in the conference semifinals. Lee ended up getting his hand raised after an 8-6 win in sudden victory. To come away with third place, Rivera had to go through Nebraska's multi-time All-American Chad Red.
Third place in the Big Ten was good enough for a third seed at nationals for Rivera. He cruised to wins in his first three bouts to set up a rematch with Lee. This time it wasn't quite as competitive and the eventual national champion was victorious, 9-3. In the consolation semifinals, Rivera scored his second win of the tournament over Dylan Duncan (Illinois), before suffering a stunning 15-5 loss to Tariq Wilson (NC State).
At this time, it's uncertain exactly where Rivera will compete in 2021-22. He wrestled at the 2021 World Championships at 65 kg for Puerto Rico. The plan is to wrestle in the U23 World Championships, in early November as well. There is the possibility he goes down to 133, but all signs may be pointing towards 141 lbs now.
Strengths: Rivera is extremely physical and an active hand fighter. He likes to control the center of the mat with an underhook, but can work from space or off ties. His offensive arsenal is vast and contains a variety of single-leg attacks. If his opponents want to go upperbody off Rivera's underhook, he'll oblige, too. He's capable of picking up a bunch of riding time from the top with his leg riding and is a threat to score using his tilt series.
2021-22 Outlook: Whichever weight Rivera goes, he'll be on the shortlist of title contenders. He has a past win over the 2021 national champion at 133 lbs, Roman Bravo-Young; however, it was almost two years ago now.
3x NCAA All-American Sebastian Rivera (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now