The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Missing meniscus won’t deter Badger
Lucas Stoddard would like to tell you he’s in the best shape of his life as the 2020 wrestling postseason nears.
The sophomore 195-pounder from Berkshire would like to say everything has gone to plan this season, and he’s exactly where he thought he’d be physically and mentally as the sectional tournament draws closer.
Those would be untruths. But Stoddard is OK with that. Less than two months ago, Stoddard was on the operating table for the second time in a matter of months to address a knee injury he was told would jeopardize his 10th-grade season of sports with the Badgers.
That prognosis was unacceptable to him.
So as the Badgers prepare for this weekend’s Division II regional duals at Rootstown, they do so with Stoddard sporting a 17-0 record.
He’s wrestling without a meniscus in his right knee, but it matters not to him.
He’s on the mat.
And that’s a place doctors told him he probably wouldn’t be when he had that meniscus removed Dec. 13.
“I wouldn’t say I’m 100%. But I’m about as close as I’m going to be,” Stoddard said after winning the 195-pound weight class at the CVC wrestling tournament Feb. 2 at Cuyahoga Heights. “I’ve been working my butt off in that (practice) room with Coach and my teammates. Everything I am right now is because of them.
“Determination is 90% of the battle.”
Stoddard knew something wasn’t right with his knee this past summer. Still miffed at a 5-2 loss to Applecreek Wayndale’s Micah Hershberger in the blood round (i.e. the consolation semifinals) of the Division III district tournament months earlier, Stoddard gutted through the discomfort.
He was 41-12 as a ninthgrader, but the loss that kept him out of the state tournament grinded his gears. Being a state alternate left him hungry for more.
“We were wrestling in the offseason at Madison. That’s where I tore it the first time,” Stoddard said. “It was swollen, but I kept wrestling on it. I just thought it was swollen. It kept bugging me. So a week or so later, I got an MRI and it was partially torn.”
With football on the horizon, Stoddard had surgery to fix the partially torn meniscus. He didn’t get back to the gridiron until the second half of the season, but in his mind that was OK.
He was on pace to get back to the wrestling mat healthy. Or so he thought.
“About two weeks in, right before our match with Perry, I tore it again,” he said. “I’m thinking, ‘Man, what am I gonna do this time?’ I knew what it was when it happened. I felt it. We go back to the doctors and I’m like, ‘Am I going to miss the whole season?’ ”
That option was on the table.
The meniscus was completely torn this time. If another surgery revealed even more damage, he faced at least a year of rehab — and his sophomore year of wrestling would have been written off. That was not an option. Instead of having the severed meniscus repaired again, Stoddard said it was removed. Granted, losing a meniscus isn’t as debilitating as losing an ACL or PCL, but the threat was real.
“They arthroscopically took out the meniscus in my right knee,” Stoddard said. “That was Dec. 13. From that day, I had it in my mind to get back no matter what it took. Even before I was allowed to run, I’d lift. My teammates and coaches pushed me. I was coming back. I knew it.”
Coach Adam Lange expected no less. He had seen Stoddard’s grit and determination before.
“He did everything his doctors told him to do,” Lange said. “He followed all the rules. He took care of himself, he worked out, ate right ... He did it how you’re supposed to.
“There was no doubt in his mind. His parents were on board with it, so he set his mind to do it.”
The return results are almost unfathomable.
By running the table at the 195-pound weight class, including a pin by cradle over Independence’s Bryan Vollman in the championship match,
Stoddard not only ran his season record to a spotless 17-0, but he also won his third tournament of the season to go with the titles he won at the Utica and Howland tournaments.
And he’s done it without changing his wrestling style to protect his meniscus-less right knee.
Pain? That’s his opponent’s problem.
“I’m not the most inshape guy or the leanest guy,” said Stoddard, still a little winded from his championship match. “But I knew if I got up early and kept pushing (Vollman), that was the key to the match.”
Even though Stoddard never let himself believe he’d be out for the year, his flawless season to this point surprises him just a tinge. After all, missing time in December put him behind. Well, hypothetically. “Three days off in wrestling puts you behind by miles,” he said. “I wouldn’t be here without the support of my family, my teammates and my coaches. They’ve been with me every step of the way. That’s my support network.”
With the regional duals this weekend, where Berkshire wrestles against Cardinal in the first round at Rootstown, followed by the sectional tournament, it’s go-time for Stoddard. The close loss to Hershberger still ticks him off. He’s probably inadvertently pierced his lip from biting through it every time he thinks of that missed opportunity.
But he’s back. And that’s all that matters to him.
“Last year I was fifth at district. This year, the goal is fourth,” he said. “Get me to state, that’s all I need. Give me that chance.”
Meniscus or not.