Kiski Area wrestler Gray eager for postseason after being sidelined by shoulder injury

By: Michael Love
Friday, February 16, 2024 | 6:10 PM

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Kiski Area’s Mark Gray made his season debut last Saturday at the Pine-Richland Duals.

The junior wrestled just one out of a planned schedule of three matches in his return from a torn labrum in his left shoulder suffered in a match at the Tussle Duals in West Virginia in September.

In two of the matches, the opposing team forfeited to Gray, but he hit the mat at 172 against West Mifflin and made quick work of Shawn Congdon, pinning him in 56 seconds.

It was a successful return to action for the Columbia commit who placed seventh at the PIAA championships a year ago.

“There were definitely some nerves built up, but if you’re not a little nervous, there’s something wrong,” Gray said. “I like to use the nerves to my advantage. If I feel the butterflies in my stomach, I know I am going out there with some fire.

“It felt so good to get back to competing. Knowing when I could come back, I was ready for that match back in October. When I got my hand raised, I was reminded of why I did all the hard work to get back.”

No one was more excited to have Gray back competing at a high level than Cavaliers coach Chris Heater.

“He’s worked so hard to get himself back,” Heater said. “We have some pretty good guys in those upper weights, so there are guys there who have been able to help get him match-ready.

“Mark has so much experience and an extensive skill set. It’s nice to see him be able to work himself back. Sometimes those injuries come at a time where you don’t get to come back before the end of the season.”

Gray hopes to have many more matches over the next month, starting with the Class 3A Northern Sectional Tournament next Saturday at Kiski Area.

He finished runner-up at the section tournament last year and as a freshman. He was fifth at 152 at the 2022 WPIAL/Southwest Regional Championships and fell short of a trip to states.

Last year, he was third at WPIALs and concluded his season in Hershey with a record of 32-7. But he knew there was more to be had and more work to be done.

Gray had a strong summer of wrestling before that fateful tournament day in September.

“I had two matches on the last day of the tournament,” he said. “It happened in the first match. I just landed down on my elbow weird. I thought something might have been wrong with my shoulder. I wrestled one more match after that and felt OK. I got home that night and just knew something wasn’t right.”

Gray got an MRI that revealed the tear. Surgery to repair the shoulder came two weeks later. Then rehab started.

“I had the same exact thing done on my right shoulder in the exact same spot with the tear,” Gray said. “It took me four months to get back from that one. From the day I got the MRI and they said it was torn, my dad and I automatically planned out four months. It landed on Feb. 5, the exact day I got cleared. When the doctor told me I was good to go, it was such an amazing feeling.”

Gray said he had no doubt that he would be back.

“Every day, I was coming in here for practice and trying to do the best I could for the team to keep the morale up and keep the energy boosted,” he said. “Being in this environment and with these guys, it made every single one of us better this year. It gave me the motivation to get back, for myself and also for them.”

Gray said that he was able to begin heavy cardio workouts at the two-month mark.

“It takes so much to get your lungs and body feeling your best, and if you get injured, you can lose that all so quickly,” he said. “That was tough to get my cardio back to where I was, but it’s been getting better and better. I felt really good after my match (at the Pine-Richland Duals).”

While Gray is back, he said he didn’t want to come in and assume he would get his 172 spot in the lineup back without doing some work.

Senior Evan Artman wrestled at 172 in 32 matches and compiled a 19-13 record with nine pins, six decisions and two major decisions to his credit. His on-mat skills and veteran leadership helped the youthful Cavaliers earn a spot in the WPIAL team playoffs.

Artman and Gray wrestled-off in a series of matches this week to begin to determine who would take the lead at 172 into the section tournament next Saturday.

“Me getting hurt gave Evan a whole team season to wrestle and continue to show what he could do, and he’s done an amazing job,” Gray said. “He’s such a competitor. After we shake hands at the start of the wrestle-off, it’s war, and I wouldn’t expect anything less from him. But when we shake hands at the end, we’re the best of friends.

“There’s so much respect between the both of us. We push each other so much.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Kiski Area