Nick Suriano

Suriano was born and raised in New Jersey, where he played football as a defensive back in his youth and was introduced to wrestling by his father at age seven. At age 12, he quit football to focus on wrestling.[5] Suriano then attended Bergen Catholic High School and became one of the most accomplished wrestlers in the history of his home state; accumulating eight NJSIAA state titles overall, four individual and four team championships, the first New Jersey wrestler to do so. Suriano was undefeated with a record of 159–0 and also picked up runner-up honors to eventual rival Daton Fix at the 2014 US Cadet Nationals in freestyle.[6]

After his legendary run in high school, Suriano committed to Pennsylvania State University to wrestle as a Nittany Lion for Cael Sanderson.[7]

As a freshman, Suriano compiled 16 victories and three defeats (two losses were by injury default), with notable wins over the season's NCAA champion and finalist Darian Cruz and Ethan Lizak, the season's B1G runner–up Tim Lambert and eventual NCAA DII National champion Jose Rodriguez. He was the third seed at the NCAAs; however, he suffered a broken ankle in a match against Nick Piccininni and was unable to compete at the Big Ten Conference championships or the NCAA championships.[8]

After his injury, Suriano transferred to Rutgers University to wrestle as a Scarlet Knight beginning his sophomore year.[9] He had a highly successful first year at Rutgers, with 25 wins and one loss, compiling notable victories over eventual three-time All-American Sebastian Rivera (twice) and eventual two-timers Ronnie Bresser and Zeke Moisey. At the Big Ten Championships, he won his first bout; however, he was forced to medical forfeit his next matches and was eliminated.[10] Entering the NCAAs undefeated, he made his way to the finals by defeating four opponents, including the defending champion Darian Cruz and two other seeded wrestlers. At the finals, he fell to Iowa's Spencer Lee, thus finishing as national runner-up.[11]

In his junior season, he moved up a weight class from 125 to 133 pounds.[12] He ended the year with a 26–3 record and notable victories in regular-season over defending MAC champion John Erneste (eventual two–time MAC champion and All-American) and eventual ACC champion Micky Phillippi. At the Big Ten Conference championships, he defeated four opponents, including future two–time All–Americans Luke Pletcher and Austin DeSanto and future three-timer Ethan Lizak to win his weight class. At the NCAA championships, he made the final after beating three opponents including Stevan Mićić and Ethan Lizak. In the final, he faced Daton Fix, whom he defeated in the second sudden victory period to become the champion at 133 pounds, the first-ever national champion at Rutgers (his teammate Anthony Ashnault would become the second later in the tournament).[13]

Suriano upset '19 Pan American champion and '18 world medalist Joe Colon at the annual Beat the Streets event on May 6 in a freestyle match.[14] On September, Suriano announced he had taken an Olympic redshirt for the season to pursue freestyle aspirations.[15]

At the prestigious Bill Farrell Memorial in November, Suriano dropped to 57 kilograms and won by tech over former DI All-American and two-time Big 12 champion from Oklahoma State Eddie Klimara and Canadian Dragos Robertson in his first two matches, before losing to fellow NCAA champion from Wisconsin Seth Gross.[16][17] In the consolation bracket, he defeated former four-time DI All-American and '12 graduate from Minnesota Zach Sanders, '16 US University National champion and two-time D-I All-American Zane Richards (technical fall), and two-time US Open national runner-up and '16 NCAA champion Nahshon Garrett to place third.[18]

Suriano competed at the US Nationals in late December, where he defeated future Pan American champion Shelton Mack and '13 NCAA All-American Britain Longmire in his first two matches, before losing a close match against 2019 Junior World finalist and D-I All-American from Cornell Vito Arujau.[19][20][21] In the consolation bracket, he once again defeated Zane Richards and added fellow NCAA champion Darian Cruz to the list by technical fall before forfeiting the third-place match against Arujau, to place fourth and qualify for the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials.[22][23]

Suriano was scheduled to wrestle at the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials on April 4–5.[24] However, the event was postponed along with the 2020 Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[25] Both competitions were rescheduled to take place in 2021.[26][27]

After more than a year of inactiveness in any ruleset and social spectrum,[28] Suriano competed at the Henri Deglane Grand Prix of France on January 16, in his first international tournament overseas.[29] In the quarterfinals, he dominantly shut down '19 European Games and '15 Junior World Champion from Azerbaijan Mahir Amiraslanov, with seven unanswered points.[2] Next, he took out '13 Junior World Championship bronze medalist from Georgia Beja Bujiashvili, four points to one to make the finals, where he outmatched Islam Bazarganov from Azerbaijan, seven points to one, to claim the championship.[30]

Suriano then wrestled at the prestigious Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series on March 7.[31] In the first round, he was edged by '18 World Championship runner-up Nurislam Sanayev, as Sanayev received two points off Suriano grabbing fingers and a point off passiveness, against a two-point takedown from Suriano. In his next three matches, he got an injury default from Daulet Temirzhanov and decisions from three–time Junior World Champion Ahmet Peker and '19 Yasar Dogu International champion Givi Davidovi. In the gold-medal match, he got a rematch against Sanayev, whom he once again lost to, claiming the silver medal.[32][33]

Suriano was then slated to compete at the rescheduled US Olympic Team Trials in April 2–3 as the fifth seed, in an attempt to represent the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics.[34][35] However, it was officially announced in the day of the event, that Suriano had been forced to withdraw from the event due to a COVID-19 positive test.[36] Suriano was considered by many as one of the favorites to claim the Olympic spot despite his seed.[37] He was then registered to come back to competition on June 8, at the prestigious Poland Open.[38] However, it was announced hours before his scheduled appearance that Suriano had withdrawn from the event for unknown reasons.[39]

On July 21, it was announced that Suriano had officially finished his career at Rutgers University and entered the transfer portal.[40]

Instead, he registered to come back at the 2021 US World Team Trials from September 11 to 12, intending to represent the country at the World Championships at 61 kilograms.[41] After making the quarterfinals, Suriano was upset by 2015 NCAA champion Nathan Tomasello on points, dropping his chances of a World Team spot.[42] He beat 2021 Pan American Champion Shelton Mack in the consolation bracket, but chose to forfeit his next match the next day.[43]

On November 28, 2021, it was revealed that Suriano had transferred to the University of Michigan and would compete at 125 pounds for the Michigan Wolverines in his return to college wrestling.[44] Suriano went 8–0 during regular season[45] before claiming his third Big Ten Conference championship.[46] The top-seed, he went straight to the finals despite facing and beating returning NCAA finalist Brandon Courtney and returning All-American Sam Latona.[47] Suriano won his second National title by beating fellow New Jersey native Pat Glory, capping off his college career.[48]