Nick Suriano's Freestyle Progression
Nick Suriano's Freestyle Progression
Nick Suriano has always been a great folkstyle wrestler but his progress in freestyle since winning an NCAA title in 2019 has been remarkable.
Nick Suriano has long been known as a good wrestler, but for the most part that success has been seen in folkstyle. It was not until after he won his NCAA title in 2019 that we saw him really take to freestyle.
There was a lot of speculation as to whether or not Nick Suriano would be back with Rutgers for this NCAA Championship season, but it appears now that he will not as he is registered for the UWW Ranking Series tournament Matteo Pellicone in Rome, Italy.
You can watch the 2021 Matteo Pellicone Live on FloWrestling
Thursday March 4 - Sunday March 7
Let's take a look back at Nick's freestyle history and how it has progressed rapidly over the last 18 months.
Cadet Nationals 2014
Nick competed in Akron in 2014 and had a great performance at Cadet Nationals picking up five tech falls, including one over the freestyle savvy Jack Mueller, in route to a 1-1 criteria loss in the finals against Daton Fix.
Nick Suriano vs Jack Mueller (2014 FILA Cadet Nationals)
Beat The Streets 2019
After that showing at Akron in 2014, Nick took a break from freestyle and was solely focused on folkstyle wrestling. And he had a lot of success winning four high school state titles in New Jersey and claiming runner-up in the 2018 NCAA Championships before securing an NCAA title for Rutgers in 2019. Nick quickly shifted his focus to freestyle wrestling at Beat The Streets later that spring. It was impressive return as he knocked off defending World Bronze medalist Joe Colon.
Nick Suriano vs Joe Colon (2019 Beat The Streets)
Bill Farrell 2019
At this point it looked like Suriano had his sights set on Tokyo 2020. He entered his first senior level international tournament in the Bill Farrell and once again had a solid showing. He made it to the quarterfinals and was beating Seth Gross late in the match before giving up an exposure in the closing seconds. Gross went on to win the weight while Suriano beat Nahshon Garrett 8-1 for third place.
Nick Suriano vs Seth Gross (2019 Bill Farrell)
2019 Senior Nationals
At this point it was full steam ahead for Nicky Freestyle. He entered the 2019 Senior Nationals in hopes of qualifying for the 2020 Olympic Trials and was successful. Losing in the quarterfinals 2-2 on criteria to Vito Arujau, he bounced back with tech fall wins over Zane Richards and Darian Cruz.
Nick Suriano vs Darian Cruz (2019 Senior Nationals)
2021 Henri Deglane
The pandemic put things on pause for 2020 but Nick Suriano was strong out of the gate in 2021. He traveled over to Nice, France, wrestled in and won the Henri Deglane International. Not only did he win the tournament, in the finals he beat Islam Bazagaronov of Azerbaijan who beat Thomas Gilman in the semifinals.
Nick Suriano vs Islam Bazagarnov (2021 Henri Deglane)
Nick will compete at 57kg in the Matteo Pellicone starting this Sunday, March 7 starting at 4:30am ET with finals beginning at 12:00pm ET. You can watch all the action live and on demand right here on FloWrestling.