Rider Wrestling All-American Sammy Alvarez's collegiate career has come to an end after the heartbreaking update about his additional year of eligibility. The wrestler entered the transfer portal for the fourth time in his NCAA career and committed to join the Iowa Hawkeyes in May 2025.The 2024-2025 season saw Alvarez delivering strong performances for the Rider Wrestling team, as he finished 25-7 at 149 kg. Along with this, he also bagged All-American honors with a seventh-place finish at the 2025 NCAA Championships, besting former Oklahoma teammate Jordan Williams.The wrestler was all set to join the Iowa wrestling for the 2025-26 season; however, the NCAA wrestling updates recently revealed that his request for an additional year of eligibility due to an injury that came at some point during his season with Oklahoma State in 2023-24 has been rejected by the NCAA. This decision has marked the end of the Rider's wrestler's collegiate career.This news was announced on Instagram, where the channel shared one of his pictures and penned a caption that read:"Sammy Alvarez's request for an additional year of eligibility due to an injury has officially been denied by the NCAA, and his collegiate career is over. Alvarez planned on wrestling for the University of Iowa after announcing his transfer earlier in the summer. Alvarez capped off his career as an All-American for Rider last season." View this post on Instagram Instagram PostAlvarez's NCAA career hasn't been consistent with one program; it has taken multiple turns, as he started his career with Rutgers in 2019 and was associated with it till 2023. Following this, for the 2023-2024 season, he joined Oklahoma State and then got committed to Rider for the 2024-2025 season.Sammy Alvarez made his feelings known about All-American honors at the NCAA Wrestling Championship Sammy Alvarez received the All-American honors post his performance at the 2025 NCAA Championship, where he earned a seventh-place finish. Following this honor, he sat for a conversation with InterMat Wrestle. During the interview he opened up about securing the honor and revealed his feelings for Rider wrestling. Exuding excitement for the special moment, he said: (0:13 onwards)“It feels like everything—from fourth grade to this very moment—hours and hours, days, months, years have been poured into this. Thousands of shots, right? And there’s not much I feel besides excitement and gratitude for everyone who poured resources into me. Support from my coaches—from Rutgers to Oklahoma State to Rider," said Sammy Alvarez. He added:"I just want to say, amen. That’s all. I did it. Amen. And that’s it. I don’t have a spiel, you know? I’m not gonna be the prototypical wrestler and thank the Lord above—because, you know, amen, like I said. But this was all me. My sweat equity. Everything I put into it."Along with this, he also made his feelings known about the criticism he received and how his work ethic and discipline were doubted by people.