Healthy or not, freshman wrestler Mitch Mueller will have his work cut out for him in Saturday’s Big 12 Tournament.

On Feb. 9, Mueller dislocated his right elbow, putting his season in doubt, but this weekend, he is offering his services to the team.

“I’ll wrestle with one arm if they let me,” said Mueller, who is ranked 12th at 141 pounds. “But that’s the coach’s [decision]. I know I want to [wrestle] if they let me, and if they think I can, I will.”

Coach Cael Sanderson said the decision will be made by Friday on whether Mueller or Laramie Shaffer will take the mat this weekend. Mueller has conditioned and done limited drills but hasn’t done any live wrestling since the injury.

Shaffer, a natural 133-pounder, had his knee scoped after replacing Mueller in the team’s dual against Missouri but is “ready to go,” Sanderson said.

Coming into the home stretch of the season, Mueller (16-13 overall) was an expected postseason points scorer for the Cyclones, a competitor in a stacked weight class that includes Oklahoma State’s fourth-ranked Nathan Morgan and Nebraska’s seventh-ranked Dominick Moyer.

Sanderson said injuries are inevitable.

“It is how it is,” Sanderson said. “You have to expect some injuries, you have to be expected to be banged up, you have to expect to be sick, but it’s something you have to take in stride.”

Seniors Trent Paulson (157) and Kurt Backes (197) each lost preparation time after suffering injuries in last year’s final dual, just two weeks before the Big 12 Tournament.

“I know I can deal with the pain, but the pain of not wrestling would be worse than what the elbow was,” Mueller said. “They said I couldn’t re-injure it, but if I do wrestle, it’d be pretty painful. But I think I can deal with that.”

Other teams in the conference have struggled to maintain their health.

Third-ranked Missouri recently suffered through widespread illness, including a stretch in mid-February where only two starters were able to practice. Oklahoma, ranked fourth as a team in the preseason, has only recently developed into a contender after regaining several members of their lineup from injuries. That includes top-ranked Sam Hazewinkel (125), second-ranked Matt Storniolo (149) and unranked, but dangerous, freshman Kyle Terry (141), the current Big 12 Wrestler of the Week.