Benas’ Resilience Key to Injury Comeback

As he stuck the landing on his double-twisting double tuck rings dismount at the 2024 Rocky Mountain Open, Oklahoma redshirt sophomore Fuzzy Benas accomplished several things at the same time.

He scored a new career-high in the all-around with his 85.200, won three individual event titles, and boosted his career-highs on pommel horse and parallel bars, all in just his second collegiate meet after an injury redshirt year. The Jan. 20 meet also marked the culmination of work and rehabilitation from a planned surgery, followed by back-to-back injuries that prevented him from competing for OU for nearly all of the 2023 season.

Since Benas' breakout meet at the Rocky Mountain Open, he's had plenty to celebrate as OU's leading scorer, and he is currently ranked in the top 20 on four events, while leading the nation in the all-around. Plus, in February he earned a spot on the U.S. Men's Senior National Team.

After an All-America freshman campaign and a sophomore season spent battling injuries, Benas has come roaring back both in the collegiate world and on the elite stage. He recently went on an international assignment with Team USA in Stuttgart, Germany, where he helped the team secure a gold medal.

As he and the Sooners prepare for the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio, this weekend, Benas looks to finish a comeback season he considers "the very beginning."

"There's something about the OU culture. The way that we are made to train here really does motivate you to come in the next day and work twice as hard and make sure you get it done by any means necessary."

-- Fuzzy Benas

Gymnastics has always been in Benas' bloodline. Both of his parents were collegiate gymnasts who brought him along to the gym while he was still too young to recognize the sport. As he got older, Benas took up gymnastics himself and quickly showed natural talent. He eventually trained at Enrich Gymnastics in Richmond, Texas, where he participated in various national and international elite competitions as a junior elite gymnast.

He thought of OU as his dream school and was recruited by head coach Mark Williams to join the team. After arriving on campus for fall of 2021, his immediate impact as a freshman in 2022 reflected in his national Rookie of the Year honor by the College Gymnastics Association. He was also one of eight Sooners who earned All-American honors at the NCAA Championships.

"It was a pretty overwhelming feeling freshman year being named Rookie of the Year, just because I felt like I had kind of sacrificed a lot," Benas said. "Just knowing it all came together at the end of the year, it all did pay off."

Benas finished the 2022 regular season as the fifth-ranked all-arounder in the nation, the highest all-around NQA ranking by an OU gymnast since 2018. He also secured team-best scores on three events, placed fifth in the all-around at the NCAA Championships and won 12 individual event titles throughout the regular season.

He planned to take a few months off after the season to repair a lingering shoulder injury that required surgery; however, his time away from competition would prove to be longer than just a few months.

Benas was ahead of schedule in his recovery from shoulder surgery in the fall of 2022 when he sustained a deep cut to his hand in a pumpkin carving accident. The hand injury left him with nerve damage, a long scar, and the inability to feel his whole hand.

After five months of rehabbing his hand, Benas was able to perform a one-handed floor routine on Feb. 11, 2023, when OU hosted Stanford and William & Mary. Shortly after he was given the green light to begin full-on training again, he tore his Achilles tendon, effectively ending a sophomore season that had barely even begun.

"The Achilles thing definitely scared me the most because my dad had an Achilles tear when he was a gymnast," Benas said. "I was also scared because I was told I was only the third gymnast ever to have this full soleus tear."

The Achilles injury was unique because a full soleus tear cannot be surgically repaired, so recovery would be more difficult than one from a more traditional Achilles tear.

"I knew I had the potential to help my team and I just had to sit there. Guilt is probably the right word for it." Benas said.

After the frustration and guilt dissolved, Benas began to use his newly acquired free time to craft goals for a comeback if his unique Achilles injury healed correctly.

"I was definitely planning in my head, even doing the gymnastics in my head so when I came back, I would have a little bit easier time physically, being able to match the mental part to the muscle memory," Benas said. "In gymnastics, I'd say the mental aspect is definitely just as important as the physical aspect. and I've never had time like that to just solely focus on the mental aspect. I feel like it helped my motivation, my drive, and my understanding of gymnastics."

Benas started creating realistic goals to complete a successful comeback. These goals included returning to the elite stage and making the United States national team along with competing for OU again. He wanted to return even better than he was before.

"I feel like a little bit of my mentality of 'I'm coming back' was the sole intention of fighting for everything and trying to improve myself, not just getting back to where I was," Benas said. "I don't think I would have recovered as well if I had the intention of limiting myself in the very beginning."

Though he returned to competition at the U.S. Core Hydration Classic in August, by the time he worked back to competing for Oklahoma again in January, Benas felt some nerves after essentially being out of the gym for almost a year and a half. Winning the all-around at the Rocky Mountain Open solidified his return and provided him with a sense of comfort.

"No matter how much personal pep-talking you do to yourself, there's always going to be that level of nervousness that you can't get rid of because we're all human," Benas said "Being able to do that at Rocky Mountain in Colorado was a nice reassurance to me that I was on the right path and that my goals were realistic and that they were more than just dreams and aspirations."

Williams noted how remarkable it has been for Benas to return from his injuries at or above his competitive level of two years ago.

"It's pretty difficult for a high-level athlete to be out for a complete year with just one injury, much less three consecutively one after the other," Williams said. "It really has shown maturity and mental fortitude that Fuzzy was able to go through that and come out on the other side with the level of gymnastics that he left with, and in some cases, probably has gotten a little bit better.

"It really is amazing. I'm really proud of his patience and development that led to his ability to come back as strong as he did, and almost pick up where he left off after his freshman year."

Benas has gone on to collect a team-high seven conference and national weekly honors, and he even completed his goal of returning to the elite stage. He was named to the U.S. Men's Senior National Team after placing sixth in the all-around at Winter Cup in February. One month ago, Benas was sent on his first international assignment by USA Gymnastics, competing at DTB Pokal in Stuttgart. He helped the men's and women's squad win gold in the Mixed Cup competition, clinching the top podium spot over China with his high bar routine.

Although he competed in some international events prior to attending Oklahoma, Benas said that competing at that level again, but now with some college experience under his belt, is a lot different.

"There's something about the OU culture," Benas said. "The way that we are made to train here really does motivate you to come in the next day and work twice as hard and make sure you get it done by any means necessary."

Heading into the postseason, Benas hopes to help OU win its first national title since 2018.

After the collegiate season ends, he will take part in more elite competitions including the Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships, May 30-June 2, before hopefully competing at the Olympic Trials at the end of June. Thanks to his national team status, he automatically qualified to the event.

No matter what happens, Benas knows how to handle it thanks to his resilience through injuries and his mental outlook on competing.

"I'm not even thinking of it as being halfway done yet, I'm still at the very beginning."