Nick Suriano
Nicholas Raymond Suriano (born April 14, 1997) is an American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competes at 57 kilograms. In freestyle, he claimed the 2021 Henri Deglane Grand Prix gold medal and the 2021 Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series silver medal. As a folkstyle wrestler, Suriano was the 2022 NCAA Division I national and Big Ten Conference champion at 125 pounds for the Michigan Wolverines, repeating what he accomplished in 2019 at 133 pounds at Rutgers University, where he also was an NCAA finalist in 2018. Wrestling career High school 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. 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. College years After his legendary run in high school, Suriano committed to Pennsylvania State University to wrestle as a Nittany Lion for Cael Sanderson. 2016–2017 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. 2017–2018 After his injury, Suriano transferred to Rutgers University to wrestle as a Scarlet Knight beginning his sophomore year. 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. 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. 2018–2019 In his junior season, he moved up a weight class from 125 to 133 pounds. 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