In a sport as physical as wrestling, injuries are expected, not unfortunate.
But even in a sport where bumps and bruises are as much a part of the game as mat burn and cutting weight, this year’s Tar Heels are unusually unlucky.
“Injuries,” UNC coach C.D. Mock said. “I’ve never seen so many.”
At the very first meet, Mock lost his starting 125-pounder, Nick Shields, for the season after the sophomore broke his jaw in two places.
Three weeks later, 165-pound senior Ben Fiacco joined Shields on the permanent disabled list with a knee injury.
A month after that, the injury bug struck again. This time the victim was Nick Stabile, also out for the year with a knee injury after being ranked No. 15 among 149-pound wrestlers in the preseason.
And that’s just the starters.
“I’m down to 16 healthy guys in the team, and that’s hard because they need workout partners,” Mock said of a roster that began the season with 31 healthy wrestlers.
All of the injuries have caused the Tar Heels to struggle. They are 4-7-1 in dual meets and just 2-3 in the ACC.
But the depleted UNC lineup still houses some serious talent in the form of 157-pound junior Thomas Scotton, who is currently ranked No. 10 in his weight class, and 197-pound senior Dennis Drury.
Though they started the season on a roll, the pair has cooled off as of late. Before his victory against N.C. State, Drury had his first consecutive losses all season, and Scotton lost three straight bouts after winning 22 of his first 24.
In order for his stars to turn things around the rest of the way, Mock believes they will have to stop wrestling not to lose.
“When guys get ranked real high, they start wrestling to defend the ranking, and it’s the worst possible thing you can do,” he said.
As the team looks toward the ACC and (for those who qualify) NCAA individual championship tournaments, redshirt freshman Ziad Haddad hopes to continue his ascent to the top of the heavyweight heap.
A national champion in high school, Haddad came to UNC with high expectations but missed the first half of this season due to academic ineligibility.
Since then he has gone 8-5 with a pair of close losses to No. 9 Scott Steele of Navy.
“When the time came and I was able to get back out on the mat, I was extremely excited,” Haddad said. “I couldn’t wait to get out there and show what I could do.”
Like the rest of his teammates, Haddad is eyeing the ACC Tournament, which offers an automatic NCAA Tournament bid to the winner of each weight class, as a shot at redemption.
“Everyone has an opportunity to make it to nationals,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter who you are or what you did.”
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