Nick Suriano

Suriano attended Bergen Catholic High School and is one of the most accomplished wrestlers in the history of New Jersey. He accumulated 8 NJSIAA overall state titles, 4 individuals and 4 team championships, being the first NJ wrestler to do so. He also graduated undefeated with a record of 159 victories and no defeats.[6]

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

Freshman: Compiled 16 victories and 3 defeats (two of them by injury) with notable wins over that season's NCAA champion and finalist Darian Cruz and Ethan Lizak, that season's B1G runner-up Tim Lambert and eventual NCAA DII runner-up Jose Rodriguez. He was the third seed at the NCAA's, however, he suffered a serious injury (broken ankle) in a dual match against Nick Piccininni and was unable to compete at the Big Ten Conference championships and at the NCAA championships.[8]

Sophomore: After his injury, Suriano decided to transfer from PSU to Rutgers University for multiple reasons and started wrestling as a Scarlet Knight.[9] He had a highly successful run as a sophomore, ending the season with 25 wins and a lone loss and compiling notable victories during regular season 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 decided to medical forfeit his next matches and was eliminated of the tournament.[10] Entering the NCAA's undefeated, he made his way to the finals by defeating four opponents, including the defending champion Darian Cruz and other two seeded wrestlers. At the finals, he faced the heavily accomplished Spencer Lee, whom he ended up losing to, becoming the runner-up of the tournament.[11]

Junior: In this 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 without suffering a loss to become the title holder at his division. At the NCAA championships, he made his way to the finals downing three opponents including the heavily accomplished Stevan Mićić and once again Ethan Lizak. In the finals, he faced the also heavily decorated Daton Fix, whom he outscored 4 points to 2 in the second sudden victory period of the bout to become the champion at 133-pounds, the first in the history of Rutgers (his teammate Anthony Ashnault would become the second later in the tournament).[13]

Olympic Redshirt: Suriano did not compete in college in this year as a result of taking an Olympic redshirt year to compete in freestyle in an attempt to make the US Olympic Team for 2020 (later 2021). Suriano remains to have a year of eligibility to wrestle for the Rutgers.[14]

In his first freestyle match since arriving to Rutgers University, he faced '19 Pan American Champion and '18 World Championship medalist Joe Colon at the annual event Beat The Streets, on May 6.[18] He downed Colon three points to one in a big upset.[19]

At the prestigious Bill Farrell Memorial, Suriano dropped down to 57 kilograms and went on to defeat former DI All-American and two-time Big 12 Champion from Oklahoma State Eddie Klimara and Dragos Robertson from Canada in the first two matches, via technical fall, before losing to '18 NCAA champion from Wisconsin Seth Gross.[20][21] 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 DI All-American Zane Richards (technical fall), and two-time US Open National runner-up and '16 NCAA champion Nahshon Garrett, to place third.[22]

Suriano then competed at the US Nationals on December 21-22, where he defeated former DI athlete Shelton Mack and '13 US University National All-American Britain Longmire in the first two matches, before losing in a razor-close match against '19 Junior World Championship runner-up and '19 DI All-American from Cornell Vito Arujau.[23][24][25] In the consolation bracket, he once again defeated Zane Richards and added '17 NCAA champion Darian Cruz to the list by technical fall, before forfeiting in the third-place match against Arujau, to place fourth and qualify for the '20 US Olympic Team Trials.[26][27]

Suriano was scheduled to wrestle at the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials Challenge Tournament on April 4–5 at State College, Pennsylvania.[28] However, the event was postponed along with the 2020 Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[29] Both competitions are now scheduled to take place in 2021.[30][31]

After more than a year of inactiveness in any ruleset and social spectrum,[32] Suriano competed at the Henri Deglane Grand Prix of France on January 16, in his first international tournament overseas.[33] In the quarterfinals, he dominantly shut down '19 European Games and '15 Junior World Champion from Azerbaijan Mahir Amiraslanov, with seven unanswered points.[1] 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, who beat '17 World Championship runner-up from the USA Thomas Gilman in the semifinals, seven points to one, to claim the championship.[34]