Nick Suriano brings Rutgers wrestling its first national title

PITTSBURGH – Nick Suriano refused to give in. Then he gave Rutgers its first national wrestling champion.

“It’s a dream,” said Suriano, a junior. “I just didn’t quit. I didn’t quit through this whole journey. And it came down to not quitting this last match. I wasn't going to quit. I was this close. He rolled me like that and I got out. I made sure I was going to get out.”

About 45 minutes later, Suriano's teammate Anthony Ashnault won the 149-pound title, giving Rutgers two national champs for the first time. 

Suriano, a Paramus native who went to Bergen Catholic, overcame Oklahoma State star Daton Fix, getting a takedown in sudden victory to claim a 4-2 win Saturday night at PPG Arena in the NCAA 133-pound final. But this being a Fix/Suriano match, it couldn’t have happened without some on-mat intrigue.

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Their meeting during the regular season, won by Fix 3-2, was marked by three replay reviews and a hands to the face call that went against Suriano in the loss. And few people could ever forget the duo famous “Marathon Match” at the Who’s Number One event when both were in high school.

Suriano seemed to push the tempo the first period, but neither Fix nor Suriano were really close to a takedown. Eventually the crowd began to back Suriano, believing Fix was not attacking enough.

This match also had replay reviews. Oklahoma State wanted a hands to the face call on Suriano (gamesmanship for sure) that was not allowed late in the second period. Then Fix was given a stall point near the end of tiebreaker period one when Suriano was called for not working up the body while riding.

Suriano looked beaten with Fix leading 2-1 and on top of Suriano as time waned in the second tiebreaker period. But as the close ticked closer to the end, Suriano managed to break free eliciting a roar from the crowd.

“And I looked in his eyes, and I said, I'm going to take him down," Suriano said. "And I took him down, and he was getting away with stalling the whole match. And all due respect to John Smith and the Okie State staff, they're legends. They did what they did, but they’ve been working the refs, they were doing it the whole match, the match at Rutgers too."

Suriano was able to get the winning takedown and the crowd erupted. Oklahoma State called for another replay review – it was announced they were looking to see if Fix’s headgear was dislodged. It would have been a cruel reversal for Suriano, but his takedown was upheld.

“He had me the whole period,” Suriano said. “I guess I could say I got a call. I don’t know. He got a lot of calls that match. It goes both ways. I took him down for the takedown fair and square.”

In the press conference, Suriano smiled as he looked up at the video of his family celebrating his win. He said he’d overcame a lot of adversity, especially a severe ankle injury at the end of his freshman season at Penn State.

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“And I just want to say to my parents, my family, they've seen this, man. There's so much tragedy out there that people go through,” Suriano said. “And it almost put an end to my journey. It was tough for me. And I said nope, I’m coming out on top.”

While at Bergen Catholic, Suriano finished his high school career undefeated and won four state championships. He transferred to Rutgers after a year at Penn State. He finished second at the NCAA championships in 2018.

On Friday Suriano said it had been "his week" and he rolled through the bracket, scoring a major decision 12-3 victory over Dylan Duncan (Illinois) in the first round, then a 7-2 decision over Korbin Myers (Virginia Tech). In Friday's quarterfinals, Suriano pinned Ethan Lizak (Minnesota) in 4:24 and in the semifinals, he edged Stevan Micic (Michigan), 4-1. 

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