Nick Suriano is seven minutes away from his second Big Ten crown—and a remarkable history for the nation's most storied wrestling league.
The top-ranked Michigan 125-pounder - a Paramus native who was a four-time undefeated state champion at Bergen Catholic before winning the national title at Rutgers - pinned Purdue's Devin Schroder at 2:39 in the conference semifinal round on Saturday night. Pinnacle Bank Arena.
Suriano won a 133-pound conference title for Rutgers in 2019. So if he wins Sunday's final against Wisconsin's Eric Barnett, it is believed that he will become the first wrestler in Big Ten history to win a league individual title for two different member institutions. He already holds the figure of being the only wrestler to enter three different schools' events, as he was Penn State's 125-pound representative in 2017 (but did not wrestle due to injury).
Suriano had a bye in the first round to open the tournament. He then defeated Dylan Shaver of Rutgers 18-6 in the quarterfinal round. It was a solid performance from the shower, having lost to Suriano due to a technical fall in the double meeting in late January.
Suriano was transferred to Michigan during the off-season after sitting out the 2020-21 collegiate season to train for the Olympic Trials. But he was unable to compete for a spot on the national team for the Tokyo Games last April after testing positive for COVID-19. This is Suriano's final year of collegiate eligibility; He's a heavy favorite to win his second NCAA title in two weeks.