BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Redshirt junior Justin Rivera is the SoCon Wrestler of the Week, the conference announced Wednesday afternoon. Rivera was one of three Camels to go 3-0 at the Fighting Camel Duals on Tuesday.

Rivera's day began with the highest-ranked win for the Camels on the day. He defeated No. 9 ranked Kellyn March of North Dakota State with a 4-1 decision.

He followed that up with a 7-2 victory over Stanford's Dawson Sihavong. Rivera closed his day with an 8-5 sudden victory decision over Marcos Polanco of Purdue.

The strong outing improved Rivera's dual record to 3-3 as the Camels begin to look towards the new year. Rivera is the third Camel to receive SoCon Wrestler of the Week recognition this year, joining Domenic Zaccone and Taye Ghadiali.

Individual rankings according to Intermat

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Justin Rivera

On how his improved mentality is helping him on the mat:

"We practice all the techniques, and the coaches are great, but what they've helped me with is my mental state. Being out for so long, I was struggling and stressing myself out so much if I was going to be the same coming back. But they've helped me, they took the pressure off me and told me to just let it fly."
 

Head Coach Scotti Sentes

"Justin was primed to get some big wins and we expected a breakout performance to come for him at some point this season. He and his brother, Chris, are extremely talented and they are both gaining more and more confidence each week.

People may not realize this, but Justin was 16-1 before an injury took him out for an entire year. We just took the leg brace off of him about five weeks ago, so he is only going to get more and more comfortable moving around on the mat and developing the timing for his offense."
 

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