Wrestling challenged by multiple injuries

Besides a losing season record, one of the worst nightmares a coach can face is the threat of injuries.

While injuries in any sport, especially one as physical as wrestling, are inevitable and just “part of it,” they can still take their toll on what could have been a promising season. 

IU wrestling Coach Duane Goldman knows all too well about the consequences injuries can have on a season, as well as how difficult it is to proceed through a schedule without starters.

From the very first match, the Hoosiers were faced with bad luck with the loss of their starting 197-pound wrestler, redshirt freshman Garret Goldman. 

Garret Goldman suffered a torn ACL as a result of wrestling against Manchester University, which would end his season before it really began. Just a few matches later, the Hoosiers would lose their starting 149-pound wrestler, junior Mitchell Richey, to a shoulder injury. 

With the absence of these two starters so early in the season, the Hoosiers started to feel the effects of not having two of their important wrestlers and relied on the other wrestlers to step up to the plate. This idea of the younger wrestlers taking the helm would continue for Indiana in later matches with the loss of three more starters: redshirt freshman Eric Roach with a head injury, junior Ryan LeBlanc with a rib injury and true freshman Quin Murphy with a rib injury. 

With so many injuries one right after the other, Duane said the team has certainly felt the effects of the missing starters during their last few Big Ten matches.

“It’s hard to train — it’s hard to get any consistency in your training,” Duane said. “A lot of the guys are missing competition, and we knew going into the season that it was going to be a developmental and challenging year for us, but it’s hard to develop when the guys can’t get into the lineup.”

Though Indiana will be without Garret Goldman, Richey or Murphy for the rest of the season, Duane said he is hopeful that the other two starters will be able to eventually make their way back into the lineup. However, right now, it is all about becoming healthy again, as Duane put it.

“We’re still really working on trying to get healthy because that’s an ongoing thing,” Duane Goldman said. “Even with the guys out of our lineup, we are still missing guys that we need to get in there, so we’re focusing on getting healthy and moving
forward.”

So with these five starters out, how does Indiana hope to come back in full force against the remaining Big Ten teams on their schedule?

As Duane noted, wrestling is not a sport where there is a rotation of starters, but rather each wrestler must be ready to perform.

In short, Duane said he is looking for all of his wrestlers to step up their games to fill the holes in the lineup.

“If you’re on the team, they need to be ready to get in there and scrap, and we let them know that, but it’s tough to win matches that way,” Duane said.

With only four regular season matches left, the Hoosiers are looking to end their season on a high note and not let the many injuries of the season stand in their way come NCAA Championship time.