Oklahoma State heavyweight Alan Gelogaev is out for the season, according to The Oklahoman newspaper Sunday.
The junior, ranked No. 2 in the nation at 285 pounds by InterMatWrestle.com, was injured in his match as part of the Bedlam Series at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Okla. Tuesday night. Gelogaev was able to complete the match, getting an 11-6 win over the Sooners' Kyle Colling, but afterwards was seen matside with a bag of ice on his chest.
Oklahoma State head coach John Smith confirmed to The Oklahoman that Gelogaev would be out for the season but did not disclose the nature of the injury.
"There's only a couple of injuries that you can have to make them season-ending, I'll just tell you that," Smith told The Daily O'Collegian, the student newspaper at Oklahoma State. "There's a lot of tough guys that can wrestle with injuries, but this is one that you just can't."
Gelogaev, a native of Chechenya, missed much of last season with a torn pectoral muscle.
The 235-pound Cowboy was unable to wrestle at the 2012 National Duals Championships at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla. Sunday. Top-seeded Oklahoma State won its semifinals match against No. 4 seed University of Illinois, 19-15, but lost in the finals to third-seeded Minnesota, 18-13.
Substituting for Gelagaev at the National Duals was redshirt freshman Austin Marsden, who got a 3-2 win over Illini heavyweight Patrick Walker, but lost to Minnesota's Tony Nelson, 8-1. Gelogoev had earned a 16-5 major decision over Nelson earlier this season.
Minnesota head coach J Robinson -- a 1969 graduate of the Oklahoma State wrestling program -- addressed Gelogaev's absence in an interview after his team defeated his alma mater to win the 2012 National Duals title.
“He was ranked No. 1,” Robinson said. “You pull a No. 1 guy out of any team and they are not going to be the same team.”
This season, Gelogaev has built a perfect 23-0 record, including a 9-0 mark against ranked opponents, and he ranks second on the team with 16 bonus-points wins.
Just before the injury, Gelogaev was basking in the media spotlight, as one of Sports Illustrated magazine's Faces in the Crowd for Feb. 13, and in a profile by award-winning wrestling writer Roger Moore for NCAA.com.
Want to know more? To learn more about the injury to Alan Gelogaev, read the The Oklahoman news story. Check out pre-injury profiles at NCAA.com and Sports Illustrated. To find out more about the Cowboy big man, take a look at Gelogaev's official Oklahoma State bio.
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