Maybe the biggest news from this Weekend's Michigan State Open was the knee injury sustained by 165 pounder Ryan LeBlanc. He'll be evaluted by doctors this week, but it sounds like it's pretty serious and could very well end his season. LeBlanc was expected to have a big impact this year after his stellar reshirt year last year, so losing him could be a big blow for the Hoosiers. Anthony Fretwell and Ross Powell both wrestled at 165 pounds yesterday, so they may be the most likely candidates to replace LeBlanc, though I also would not be surprised to see Ryan Konz move up to take the spot. I'll try to find out this week what the extent of LeBlanc's injury is, and who will fill in for him.
Freshman Mitchell Richey also injured his knee, but his injury appears to be reletivly minor.
Other thoughts:
- Matt Ortega means business this year. He pinned his first opponent in a six seconds yesterday and took second overall at 133. He looked strong a few weeks ago at the intrasquad scrimmage and given this performance yesterday, I think it's safe to say he's put his sophomore slump behind him. The Big Ten is fairly young overall at the weight, so Ortega has a good shot to make some noise if he keeps wrestling like he has so far. I would not be shocked to see him in the next edition of Intermat's rankings.
- Matt Powless is proving that last year's improvement was no fluke. The junior won the 197 pound weight class on Saturday, scoring an impressive 53 points in only four matches. The conference is pretty stacked at the weight this year, but Powless showed a knack for pulling upsets last year, and if he still has it this year, things could get very interesting come conference tournament time.
- I'm guessing Justin Brooks all but clinched the starting spot at 125 pounds with a gutsy thrid-place performance. We can't expect him to be Angel Escobedo, but this guy should put up some solid wins this year. IU has a boatload of freshmen at 125, so if Brooks does falter, there are plenty of other options.
- IU has a very good problem to have at Heavyweight, boasting both the second and third place finishers from yesterday. Ricky Alcala appears better equipped to handle the size of many heavyweight opponents, but Joe Fagiano performed well too the team probably cannot go wrong with either guy.
- Whatever lineup we see against Wabash on Thursday will probably not be the main lineup for the season. The lineups against Columbia and the Citadel next weekend will be better indications.
