College Wrestling: Minnesota's two-time All-American Mack Reiter tears ACL
| 3
|
Minnesota’s Mack Reiter and Penn’s Matt Valenti had both accepted invitations to compete in the 41st NWCA All-Star Classic on November 20 in Dallas.
But during the Gophers practice on Thursday, the Reiter-Valenti match-up was voided and Reiter’s season came into question when he suffered an a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Reiter, a four-time high school state champion from Don Bosco High School in Iowa and a two-time All-American at Minnesota, was ranked second in the NWCA/InterMat/NWMA preseason individual rankings and was a solid candidate to contend for an NCAA title at 133 pounds.
He was fourth last season.
“We were just wrestling in practice and it was kind of something that just happened,” Reiter said. “It was not intentional on anyone else’s part.”
“It’s one of those things that happen and you just have to accept it,” he said.
According to Reiter, the doctors knew it was a torn ACL immediately, but advised Reiter to undergo an MRI.
“We had the MRI done on Friday, but I haven’t even gotten the results yet,” said Reiter. “The doctor said right away he knew the ACL was gone and we did the MRI to see if it was anything else.”
”Talking with J (Robinson) and some of the doctors, we’re looking at getting the surgery next week,” said Reiter.
But will the injury cost Reiter the season?
He doesn’t think so.
“We’re looking at February 1 getting back,” Reiter said.
Traditionally, ACL tears usually require extensive rehab and usually cost an athlete the remainder of the season, regardless of when the injury occurs.
“There are some tricks they want to do to speed up the rehab. I’m definitely going to try to wrestle this year,” he said.
Reiter was looking forward to getting his chance to wrestle the returning national champion in the All-Star Classic.
“I’d never wrestled Valenti. If everything would have gone right, I’d have wrestled him on that Monday and again the next week,” said Reiter.
“It would have been nice for me to wrestle in it (All-Star) and see him before the NCAA tournament,” he said.
With Minnesota the consensus number one team in the nation this season, Reiter’s individual goals ultimately take a backseat to the Golden Gophers’ championship run.
“I want to be there for our team and obviously that’s the main thing driving me,” said Reiter. “I have a shot at winning the national title from an individual standpoint, but I want to be there for the team down the stretch.”
“We’ve set a lot of team goals together,” he said. “I was talking with (Robinson) on Wednesday and we were saying how we wanted to go to the All-Star and win every match -- set a mindset with everybody on how we’re going to wrestle. Let people know we’re not going to let up for anybody all season long.”
When asked about who would fill the void at 133, Reiter wasn’t conceding he’d even be out of the lineup.
“We still haven’t ruled out the possibility of me trying to wrestle on the knee – surgery isn’t guaranteed yet,” said Reiter.
Source
