Cowboy Wrestling: Kaid Brock Is "Likely" Done for the Season
STILLWATER – Bad news out of Gallagher-Iba Arena as Cowboy wrestling redshirt senior Kaid Brock has likely suffered the third season-ending injury of his career.
“Kaid [Brock] will be out; more than likely his season’s over,” head coach John Smith said on Wednesday. “His injury was probably a season-ending injury and likely won’t see him through the rest of the season.”
Brock sustained the injury at some point in the last few weeks of practice.
“Just practice,” said Smith. “Always, these things seem to be a little bit of an odd situation and I’ll just say it seemed to be an odd situation that he got in. Unfortunately, it’s just an injury that I think if he could wrestle, he would wrestle. But right now, we’re mostly planning on going with Dusty [Hone] the rest of the season.”
Brock will have the chance to return next season due to the NCAA’s COVID waiver, but it’s unclear at this point if he will take advantage of it.
Redshirt senior Dusty Hone will be taking Brock’s place in the starting lineup at 141-pounds. Hone, out of Cedar City, Utah, is 1-2 on the season in his first three dual matches. He picked up his lone win in a 4-2 decision in the Northern Iowa dual against Drew Bennet last weekend.
Hone filled in for Brock in the 2019-20 season after Kaid suffered a season-ending knee injury. Hone finished the season with a 21-9 overall record and a 9-7 dual record. He finished third at the Big 12 Wrestling Championships.
“It’s pretty big right now, right?” Smith said of the advantage of having a wrestler who’s been in the starting lineup to replace Brock. “It’s pretty important that you have guys that can step in and be competitive. I think Dusty won at UNI, an important win for us. So, when you have some of these things happen and all of a sudden you have a couple of guys out of your lineup, it really makes a difference in dual meets; you’re scrapping to win. I see that being the same scenario this weekend [against OU]; I mean we’re gonna have to really wrestle well to win.”
The Cowboys are currently 7-0 on the season and will travel to Norman on Sunday for the first of two Bedlam duals this season. Start time is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT, then they’ll travel back to Stillwater for a dual against Little Rock that evening at 7 p.m. CT.