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    • New Columbia wrestling coaching staff inspires a culture of trust and a new path forward
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    New Columbia wrestling coaching staff inspires a culture of trust and a new path forward

    Pabio Posted on

    Three months ago, on a wrestling mat in Paris, Columbia assistant wrestling coach Sebastian Rivera was about to let his dream slip away.

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    He trailed Mongolia’s Tomor-Ochiryn Tulga in the Olympic bronze medal match 9-8 as time ran out.

    10. 9. 8.

    That’s when Rivera dug deep. He charged at Tulga and swung his body around him, pushing him to the mat for the takedown with great force. He found a way, and that moment cemented his Olympic legacy: he was now officially a bronze medalist.

    Rivera brings that intensity, fire and never-give-up determination to his new role with the Columbia wrestling program. After returning from Paris, he joined the school’s staff led by his former Rutgers assistant head coach, Donny Pritzlaff, who took over as head coach earlier this summer, alongside Jeff Buxton, who coached Rivera in Paris, and Greg Bulsak, another Rutgers. All American.

    It’s a unique team with deep roots in the Big Ten and now operating within the Ivy League, but Pritzlaff said it’s a team he “trusts with (his) life “.

    “I’m so proud of these guys, the way they develop relationships with the kids and push them, but they know how to pull back sometimes, and it’s just a lot of fun to watch and be around,” said Pritzlaff in an interview. with NCAA.com. “Being able to work with them is so fun and awesome, and seeing them every day. Being more comfortable with the team will only make us better.

    This is a group of leaders who hope to raise the level of Colombian wrestling and remain competitive in an Ivy League that officially split from the EIWA this season and will compete for its own conference title in the postseason in March before the NCAA Tournament.

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    It’s a new era of Colombian wrestling, but it’s one full of promise and excitement, both for collegiate athletes and those who continue on the senior circuit.

    Coach’s confidence

    Columbia wrestling has only had six All-Americans in program history. Half of them achieved national recognition before junior Kai Owen was born.

    So it’s no surprise that Owen said he considered the feat something “out of reach” when he started as a freshman with the Lions, something “reserved only for the best kids in the country.”

    But that has since started to change for the 141-pounder.

    After qualifying for the NCAA tournament for the first time in 2024 and watching his former teammate Lennox Wolak finish on the podium at 174 pounds, Owen is starting to believe this is a path for him.

    The new coaching staff is just helping him gain that confidence by wrestling with him in the room every day.

    “I think actually having those one-on-one rehearsals with – specifically for me because I’m a smaller guy – Sebastian Rivera, having those one-on-one rehearsals with him, I think, m “Helps build my confidence,” Owen said. said. “But just to feel what it’s like to wrestle against an Olympic bronze medalist is obviously incredible, and it’s a great opportunity for me to see where I stand compared to such a high-level athlete like him.”

    GO BACK: Inside Sebastian Rivera’s Mindset as a College Athlete

    He is not the only one to benefit from these advantages. Nick Fine, a redshirt junior upperweight, said he has seen immediate growth in both the mental and physical aspects of his wrestling since the new team took over.

    “I get to wrestle with Greg Bulsack, who is also an All-American, and the confidence you get working with those guys is huge,” Fine said. “And then on the other hand, with Donnie and Coach Buxton’s technique, I’m working on so many things at once, and every day in practice I really feel like I’ve done a significant improvement.”

    Returning leaders

    Fine returns to the lineup this year at 184 pounds after spending a year off training alongside teammate Cesar Alvan, a 165-pound redshirt who qualified for the NCAA tournament as a sophomore in 2023, at the New York Regional Training Center.

    He explained that while he grew as a wrestler during that time, he also benefited from the opportunity to spend more time with teammate Alvan, someone Fine called “a leader for a reason”.

    “He works incredibly hard, but also very disciplined, in every aspect. He truly lives and breathes it,” Fine said. “So being able to live with him for a year and learn a lot of things while still being able to train, while taking a more reserved role, not competing, and taking a step back, It definitely gave me a lot of perspective on where I was in my journey to becoming an All-American.”

    The coaching staff has also been impressed with Alvan’s leadership and the values ​​he brings every day, especially during this coaching transition.

    “We didn’t really know who was going to step up, but Cesar seems to have the respect of the team, and a lot of people look up to him and listen to him,” Rivera said. “It’s great that there is someone on the team who takes on this role.”

    But Alvan is not only considered for his personal qualities. He has had solid success this season on the mat, placing second at the Princeton Open after posting wins over Lehigh’s Richie Grungo, Rider’s Cole McComas, Princeton’s Sean Sefeldt and Joseph Cangro.

    He’ll also have a number of big tests ahead of him, as he’ll likely face No. 13 Beau Mantanona on Nov. 17 when the Lions face Michigan and No. 15 Tyler Lillard in Columbia’s duel with Indiana on the 21st. november. before the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in early December.

    However, the new team is already helping Alvan believe he is capable of competing with the best.

    “Just in that first tournament, I was going out of bounds, or the period was over, and I was looking over my corner, and I have these guys coaching me – that gives me confidence,” Alvan said . “I could have played the tournament the day after they announced it, and just having them in my corner at that time would make me even better.”

    The goal is to improve, and the model is there.

    Alvan said that, like Owen and the rest of the Columbia team, he was inspired last season by seeing teammate Lennox Wolak, who now wrestles at Virginia Tech, earn All-American honors. Seeing Wolak achieve big goals helped Alvan believe he could also finish on the podium.

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    Wolak became Columbia’s first All-American in 10 years when he finished sixth at 174 pounds last season. For Alvan, the victory broke a barrier for him and his teammates, showing them what is possible. Alvan likens this to the phenomenon known as the “Bannister effect.”

    “It’s when a barrier that was thought to be unattainable is broken that a mental shift occurs, allowing many others to overcome it,” Alvin said, reading the definition of the phenomenon from his phone. “This effect is named after the man who broke the 4-minute mile. I sent it to Lennox. Getting on that podium and becoming an All-American is, you know, it’s possible… but when it’s not done, or at least in a while, it’s very difficult to conceive of it and think that it will be achievable. . The fact that Lennox can achieve this almost opens that door and barrier for us.

    This belief may have started with Wolak, but Alvan doesn’t expect it to end with him.

    “We have two, three, four or five, a group of guys on this team that are very capable of getting on that podium,” Alvan said. “And I think that will definitely happen this year, in years to come, and there’s a lot of thanks to a lot of different people, but Lennox Wolak is definitely one of those names to be grateful for .

    The coaching staff wasn’t willing to offer names on guys to watch, but Alvan and his teammates weren’t afraid to shout out to their friends, including a 125-pound sophomore. Sulayman Bah and senior Jack McGill at 174 pounds.

    ‘Don’t give up. Be tough.

    What will it take to help these guys become All-Americans like Wolak? For Rivera, the answer is simple: don’t give up. Be tough.

    “It’s hard to teach, but I try to implement it as best I can with my wrestling,” Rivera said.

    Coaching at the college level may be new to Rivera, but he has a role model in Pritzaff and Buxton, mentors who helped him achieve his goals and mentors who now support him in doing the same for the next generation of Colombian athletes.

    OLYMPIC RECAP: What we learned about each of the Olympic medalists

    Pritzaff, however, believes that just having Rivera — and his intensity — in the room will elevate the program’s culture.

    “We tried to get these guys to understand that our culture is going to be a hard-fighting culture where guys like Sebastian say they’re not going to stop, they’re going to keep pushing hard,” Pritzaff said. . “And we try to build that, and we try to maintain it throughout the season.”

    Rivera’s credentials and the fact that he’s still active in the sport gives him the credibility to back up everything he says, and he’s already made an impact on guys like Owen, Alvan and Fine, who are looking to making jumps this year under the new staff.

    “When you think of an Olympic medalist, it’s hard to understand how someone can become so good sometimes,” Fine said. “And you know, you almost think there’s some kind of secret method, but working with (Rivera) has been really cool because it’s as simple as his intensity and… just the fact that anyone can really try to emulate that just by trying to match his intensity, not only in competition, but in training, day in and day out.

    Every practice, every rep, every second counts because, as Rivera said, “You never know when something big might happen with 10 seconds left in a match.” You saw this at the Olympics. »

    Whether it’s the World’s Biggest Stage or the Blood Round of the NCAAs or anywhere in between, this mantra of “don’t give up, be tough” will be part of Columbia’s philosophy as the team looks to add to the history books this season and fight to place athletes on the podium, both at the Ivy League Tournament and the NCAAs, with new confidence.

    Pabio
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