Owatonna High School has had numerous great wrestlers come out of the Owatonna Wrestling Program. OHS Alum (Class of 2018) Peyton Robb is one of Owatonna’s most dominant wrestlers and only three-time state champion for the Huskies. After his time at the OHS, Robb decided to take his talents to the University of Nebraska to continue his wrestling career. This season was Robb’s fifth year at the University of Nebraska. Robb was having his best season yet before the OHS Alumni went through one of the most tragic stories during the 2023 NCAA National Championships.

On the second day, after the third round of the NCAA National Championships, Robb noticed a large bruise on his shin but he did not think too much of it. The next day, Robb tried to warm up before the last two matches of his season but he was not feeling like himself physically or mentally. At this time the bruise on his shin got more tender and became a bigger problem than the day before. Even after these things, Robb was still determined to go out and wrestle to finish what he started. 

Robb said, “I kept wrestling because that’s just my mindset and I thought I just had a stomach bug or something that was making me feel crumby.”

Right after his first match, Robb went back into the tunnel and began vomiting and started shaking uncontrollably. He ended up medically forfeiting out of the tournament and finished sixth in the country at 157 pounds. While Robb’s season ended prematurely he was still awarded All-American for the second time in his college career.

That night Robb was taken to the Tulsa, Oklahoma emergency room and was diagnosed with strep cellulitis; Strep cellulitis is the infection on his shin that affected his ability to compete in the tournament. That night he received IV antibiotics and was released so he traveled back to Nebraska.

After no improvement, Robb returned to the emergency room in Lincoln, Nebraska. At the hospital, doctors discovered that Robb’s heart rate was high, blood pressure was very low and the pain in his leg was getting worse. They discovered Robb probably had blood clots and they put him on blood thinners. 

Although improving, doctors noticed a new complication. As the days went on Robb’s vitals were getting better and the swelling on his leg was going down, but as the swelling went down the doctors noticed black spots on Robb’s leg. Black spots on his leg brought up the possibility that tissue in his leg was dying. Right as the doctors saw these spots, they immediately brought Robb into surgery and told his parents they would have to remove as much tissue as necessary or Robb could die. 

Robb said, “Going into surgery I was cautiously optimistic that everything would be OK.”

After five surgeries the doctors told Robb and his family that they had to cut out some skin and parts of muscle near his shin. The infection was taken out and Robb had two big incisions on his leg and will continue to have those incisions until he has more surgeries to cover the incisions. After a couple surgeries, Robb was admitted into St. Elizabeth Hospital Burn and Wound Center. 

Until Robb’s next surgery, all he can do at this point is rest as much as possible and try to recover more until the operation. From there Robb will have a long road in physical therapy and will meet up with the Nebraska athletic trainer on a daily basis and will continue to go to the doctors so he can continue to get his leg checked and make sure everything is going as planned. 

Robb was in the hospital for about three weeks and has now returned back home. 

Robb said, “I’m also grateful for my parents, coaches, teammates and trainer who were by my side the whole time at the hospital and after.”

After all of the surgeries, Robb was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, a rare infection where only a couple hundred cases are seen each year in the U.S. This infection while being rare has a high mortality rate with one in five people diagnosed dying from this condition.

While Robb was in the hospital, one of Robb’s coaches suggested making a GiveSendGo account, allowing him to share his story and be able to collect donations to go towards Robb’s hospital bills and recovery process. The goal amount for the GiveSendGo account was $25,000. Right away the donations started pouring in and within a couple of hours they already reached the goal amount of $25,000. People and wrestlers from all over the country were sharing his story and sending him prayers. The GiveSendGo account ended up raising $85,000.

Robb said, “It blew my mind how many people donated to the GiveSendGo and I am very grateful for all those who did.”

As the days go on Robb’s recovery is slowly making continuous improvement. The road to recovery is a long one, but hopes are high for Robb’s future and wrestling career as he has one more year of eligibility to continue to wrestle and to finish out his college career.