 |
|
| After battling back from injury,
All-American Fee sets sights on national title |
James
Nix
Associate Editor
Allie Woods
Sports Beat |
Jacque Lenz | The AppalachianSenior Mark Fee earned fifth
place in the 165-pound bracket of the NCAA Championships this
year and is currently ranked fourth in the country in that weight
class. The Mountaineers begin their season Nov. 9.
|
After many injuries, the Appalachian
State University wrestling team will get the season underway Nov.
9 at the West Virginia Open.
The hardest injury for the team to deal with
is that of All-American Mark Fee who recently injured the lateral
collateral ligament (LCL) in his right knee.
Fee earned fifth place in the 165-pound bracket
of the NCAA Championships in 2002 and is currently ranked fourth
in the country at that weight.
The injury occurred in practice, but right now
does not look like it will need surgery. If surgery is required,
Fee could be out for up to two months but if his progress continues,
Fee may resume practice drills as early as late next week.
“It’s pretty much just a sprain and
I’m getting better and better every day,” Fee said. “I’m
coming back. I’ll be ready to wrestle live in maybe three weeks.”
|
“He’s doing rehab
and working hard,” said head coach Paul Mance. “He’s
working with rubber bands and different workouts, doing all the
things you can do to keep your shape without actually wrestling.
Nothing is better for a wrestler than wrestling.”
Fee said he has also spent a lot of time in the
pool, to try and keep up his stamina.
Some of the team goals may have been hindered
by his injury, but each wrestler still has their individual goals,
Fee said. Even without him, Appalachian has a lot of strong wrestlers
with potential to be All-Americans.
Travis Drake and Rich Caisse are back for their
senior seasons. Drake will compete in the 133-pound and Caisse in
125-pound division. Caisse was a conference champion and national
qualifier in 2001 but finished third in conference in 2002 after
being slowed by a knee injury.
“I’m looking for the team to win as
well as myself,” said Caisse. “We should have a lot of
people in the finals and should be able to win the conference.”
Drake was named the Southern Conference Wrestler
of the Year in 2001-2002 and 2000-2001.
“I’m looking for Travis to be an All-American,
very high All-American,” Mance said. “He works hard, runs
every day, two or three times a day. He lifts hard; he works hard.
Travis has the athletic ability and we really expect him to be there
at the end of the season.”
“Travis and Rich are definitely leaders
of the team,” Fee said. “We take it as a group leadership,
none of us are singled out or anything.”
When Fee does return to the mat, he said his
knee will still be unstable, but he is confident he will still be
able to wrestle.
“It’s going to bother me,” Fee
said. “I’m just going to have to push through it. It will
eventually get better.”
Fee said he has high hopes for his return after
his high ranking last season.
“I don’t want to have any excuses on
the season so I’m definitely striving for the best,” Fee
said. “I do want to win nationals or place in the nationals.
I hope this won’t hold me back.”
ASU went 2-3 in SoCon matches last season but
were depleted by injuries. There were four starters gone for most
or all of the conference season in 2002.
“We were by far the best team in the conference
last year without the injuries,” Mance said. “You can’t
lose two time national qualifiers and two time conference champs,
take them right out of your lineup for the whole conference season.”
A couple of freshmen looking to contribute right
away are Josh Carroll from Kansas who will wrestle in the 197-pound
class and David Hazell from California who will compete in the heavyweight
division. The two were both multiple time state champions and both
finished fourth nationally.
“Both of these two are very mature kids,”
Mance said.
“They are learning fast and we are expecting
big things from both of them. I think they both have a legitimate
shot at being national qualifiers.”
A key loss from last year’s squad is PJ
Boccia who graduated as a two-time SoCon Champion and three-time
national qualifier.
“He won the conference several years in
a row,” Caisse said. “Going into a match we didn’t
have to worry about his weight because we knew he would always win.
It left a gap but we have a lot of guys to fill the 157-pound weight.
Right now that is our deepest position.”
“If people come watch us wrestle they will
see some very exciting stuff,” Mance said.
Mance hopes for the team to end up the season
in the top 20 nationally. This would put ASU in the same breath
with national powerhouse University of Iowa, University of Oklahoma,
University of Missouri and Arizona State University. The first home
match comes Jan. 17 against The Citadel. |
|
 |
For an up tp date sports calendar below!
|
|
 |
 |
