Geronimo Rivera
School: Layton
Grade: Junior
Sport: Wrestling
Geronimo Rivera could be forgiven if all he ever thinks about is another individual title on the mat. After all, he’s already a two-time champion in Class 6A for the Lancers, moving up each year one notch in weight category.
As a freshman, Rivera took top honors at 113 pounds and last year claimed the 6A title at 120 as a sophomore. That puts him, if he’s able to win this year at 126, in a position next year to potentially become a champ every year in high school.
But Layton also won the team wrestling championship last year and Rivera is the lone returning individual titlist (out of three) to lead the way.
“I really think we have a high chance of winning it,” said Rivera of the team category. “Our team is so well put together. We’re brothers, pretty much. If one of us falls, we all fall. If one of us wins, we all win.”
Now being recruited to go wrestle collegiately by the likes of North Carolina, Wisconsin and Minnesota, among others, Rivera also likes mountain biking and plans to return to football next year after skipping the sport this season.
And he’s been doing plenty of winning this year. But the losses are bringing lessons to the Lancer standout. He fell in the semifinals of one meet to a competitor ranked No. 7 in the country.
“I ended up going into overtime with him, but made a simple little mistake that I’ve fixed,” said Rivera of that particular match at the Reno Tournament of Champions.