Seth Gross (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Seth Gross of South Dakota State will not be wrestling for a second consecutive NCAA title in March.
Gross, who last competed on Nov. 11, will miss the remainder of the season due to injury. He developed spondylolisthesis. Gross is scheduled to undergo surgery on Jan. 23.
He made the announcement on a video he posted on his Twitter account.
Update on my injury and the rest of this season. pic.twitter.com/pI25gDik1p
�" Seth Gross (@GodsWrestler133) January 18, 2019
"I decided that the best option is going to be to take a surgical route to hopefully fix this problem," Gross said. "With that being said, it's about a six-month recovery time, so I won't be wrestling freestyle this summer. I'm taking this time to get to my health. That's my No. 1 concern right now, just to get healthy as I can for when I return to the sport."
Gross said he is hopeful that he will receive a medical hardship waiver from the NCAA.
Gross won his NCAA title at 133 pounds last March by defeating Michigan's Stevan Micic 13-8 in the NCAA finals. He was an NCAA runner-up to Iowa's Cory Clark in 2017.
