Killian Cardinale details journey to All-American season for West Virginia wrestling amid injuries

Killian Cardinale came up short in the 2022 NCAA Tournament and failed to make the podium for the second straight year. But he battled back and became an All-American again in 2023 for West Virginia wrestling battling through adversity.

Four weeks after surgery to repair his meniscus, and only a couple of months after missing the early portion of the season because of painful stress reactions in his toes, Cardinale became West Virginia’s eighth multiple All-American.

Being able to fight through injuries and finish in 8th place at 125 pounds prooved his toughness as his career came to a close.

“That I’m a tough SOB,” Cardinale said. “It’s easy to get going when things are right. How are you going to respond when things don’t go your way? I discovered a lot about myself this year because of that.”

Two toe injuries limited him earlier this season and there were questions of how Cardinale would perform on the mat.

“It just kept persisting. I got an MRI in August, and it was diagnosed as stress reactions, almost like stress fractures, in both of my big toes,” Cardinale said. “I couldn’t shoot very much, but only certain positions bothered me. If I went too hard in certain positions it hurt, so I just avoided certain positions.”

Not only that, Cardinale tore his ACL two days after his return from injury and finished up the year bruised and battered. Then his other knee buckled during the year.

But it didn’t prevent him from reaching his goals.

“I tried to put pressure on it, and I couldn’t bend my knee,” Cardinale said. “After two or three days of not being able to get my knee out of a locked position, I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a bucket handle meniscus tear. They went in there and scoped that out like two weeks before Big 12s.”

Due to his injuries, Cardinale did not compete in the Big 12 Championships but managed to get an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships as the No. 28 seed out of 33 wrestlers in his weight class.

“Being healthy plays to your advantage, for sure, and even if you’re banged up you have to kind of survive and be the last man standing,” Cardinale said. “The competitor part in me would have liked to have done better, but it’s crazy the level I was able to wrestle after having surgery 27 days before the tournament.”

Cardinale is a tough West Virginia wrestler through and through but he transferred from Old Dominion three years ago after the latter cut its wrestling program.

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Cardinale finished his wrestling career 84-39 with Old Dominion and West Virginia and was a three-time All-American between the two schools.