Ryan Fuller takes over heavyweight as Matt Fields goes out with an injury.
By DAN McCOOL
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Iowa wrestling coach Jim Zalesky is thankful that heavyweight Ryan Fuller did not transfer to another school at the semester break this season.
“Anybody who’s in a backup situation has always got to be prepared to step in, “Zalesky said.
With sixth-ranked Matt Fields lost for the season due to a knee injury sustained in Sunday’s 25-9 loss at top-ranked Minnesota, Fuller once again is Iowa’s varsity big man.
“Fuller hasn’t had a lot of experience this year or last year, but he’s got capabilities, “Zalesky said. “He’s got the opportunity, he’s got to run with it.
“I don’t think there is that big of a drop-off, maybe he has different skills than Fields has, but he’s been in with a lot of situations, fought a lot of tough matches and wrestled a lot of those top guys.”
Zalesky said an MRI on Fields’ knee showed tears of the anterior cruciate and the medial collateral ligaments. Zalesky said Fields was seeing a second doctor Tuesday to make sure there was no more damage.
The injury came against Minnesota’s top-ranked Cole Konrad in the final period of the final match of a frustrating day in Williams Arena.
“He was trying to pull to get out of position and he had his leg locked out straight, “Zalesky said. “Konrad dropped down and shot like a low single. All of the weight came on the knee. It was one of those things where the ankle got caught in the mat and there was nothing you could do.”
Zalesky said the Minnesota meet was similar to Iowa’s 24-13 loss to Nebraska in the National Duals.
“We had a chance to beat (Minnesota) and the matches like at 141, 149, 157 were all pretty tough matches and we lost them all, “Zalesky said. “We just weren’t good enough that day to beat them.”
Following surgery, Fields is facing a minimum of six months of rehabilitation.
Fuller, a junior from Lisbon, had an 18-19 record for the Hawkeyes in the 2003-04 season, while Steve Mocco was being withheld from competition to train for the 2004 Summer Olympics. Mocco transferred to Oklahoma State for the 2004-05 season and won the NCAA title. Fields was 24-12 as a freshman that season and Fuller was 1-2.
Fields talked his way out of being withheld from competition this season, prompting Fuller’s consideration of a change of schools. Fields was 15-5 this season before defaulting the match to Konrad on Sunday.
Zalesky said the varsity job would have gone to freshman Michael Bucklin, a former state champion at Colfax-Mingo, if Fuller had left the squad.
Fuller, who is 5-4 this season and 24-25 for his career, takes over Friday when No. 7 Iowa meets Big Ten foe Purdue at 7 p.m. in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
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