Iowa gives Ryan a second chance

Logan Ryan couldn't have picked a bigger venue to make his official college wrestling debut for the University of Iowa, stepping onto the mat for the first time for the Hawkeyes at the Grapple on the Gridiron outdoor dual meet at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City Saturday.

Logan Ryan wrestled in Iowa's lineup at Grapple on the Gridiron on Saturday, and fell to top-ranked Dean Heil of Oklahoma State (Photo/Darren Miller, Hawkeyesports.com)

While Ryan lost his match with Oklahoma State's Dean Heil -- the top-ranked wrestler in the nation at 141 pounds -- at the dual that shattered the existing college wrestling attendance record, the event still has positive significance for the two-time state champ from Bettendorf, Iowa, as it provided him a second chance to do what he had always wanted to do: wrestle for Iowa.

Ryan, 19, was one of three redshirt freshmen wrestlers booted from the Hawkeye roster following their involvement in a series of thefts near Cedar Rapids last March. Only Ryan was given the opportunity to return to Iowa wrestling in late September, after receiving a deferred judgement and two years of probation after facing nine counts of burglary from a motor vehicle in Marion, Iowa.

Ryan earned the right to wrestle at Grapple on the Gridiron by being the Hawkeyes' top finisher at 141 by winning four of five matches at an open tournament hosted by Grand View University last weekend in Des Moines.

"I appreciate the opportunity I've been given. I know they didn't have to give me a second chance and I want to prove to them that they made the right decision,'' Ryan told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier Friday.

"He sees an opportunity in front of him. It's an opportunity to put a singlet on and to represent and not look back, so let's have a performance,'' Iowa head coach Tom Brands said of Ryan, who compiled a 22-6 record last season wrestling unattached. "He's had to fight through some adversity to get to this point and now he's got a chance. It's up to him to see what he can do with it.''

"I've went through some tough times and I almost had something taken away that meant everything to me," said Ryan. I have to be a better person from what I've been through. The experience changed me. I can't let it happen again.''

"All I've ever wanted to do was wrestle for Iowa and I can't ever take that for granted again."

One of the other three former Iowa wrestlers arrested last March, Seth Gross, a three-time Minnesota state champ for Apple Valley, is now on the roster at South Dakota State University, listed at 141 pounds.

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