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- Thread starter psykim
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they met in the 2018 NCAA 125 Championship final. Spencer won 5-1
I believe that's their only meeting in college.
If you go back into their youth careers, they met several times. They wrestled a pretty famous Super32 final @ 113 in 2013, where Lee won 3-1 in SV. If I recall correctly, they had met the previous year in the 106 final of Super32, and Suriano had won 4-3.
thanks for the answer Tom.. Curious if they both pursue being Olympians and compete against each other for 2024 Olympics! As most know there are much fewer Olympic weight classes (than college weight classes) and going up a weight is almost 20 pounds so it is likely they would go against each other if both are healthy and are competing then. Both have had great college records. Also, if both return next year for NCAA wrestling they could compete against each other.
several things:
- I'm pretty sure Suriano can not return for NCAA wrestling next year. He competed in 2016-17 (PSU), 2017-18 (Rutgers), and 2018-19 (Rutgers). He then took an Olympic redshirt for 2019-20 to try for the Olympics. He then redshirted in 2020-2021 as the Olympics were postponed a year. By not competing in '20-21, he doesn't get an extra Covid year. Things got a little confusing with the delayed Olympics, and how redshirts were classified, etc. That said, when Suriano announced in later November that he had decided to join Michigan, his Instagram announcement stated, "It is my honor to announce that I will represent The University of Michigan for my final NCAA season."
- I haven't seen anything official on whether Suriano is going to try for the '24 Olympics. If he does, I'm pretty sure he'll be at 57 kg, as that's where he was training in '20 and '21
- Spencer Lee, as long as his knees are up to the task, will also be in the mix for the '24 Olympics at 57 kg
- The reason I mentioned that I haven't seen anything official on Suriano's plans for '24 is that he's also said on many occasions that his future plans included MMA. It would not surprise me if he's weighing offers from RTCs in terms of how much financial support they'll give him over the next 2 years versus what MMA is offering
thanks tom for your thorough responses. If you hear anything further let us know- with Olympics being delayed the one year, Olympic trials will be upon us sooner than usual. In the Olympics I do root for US guys-even if they left PSU or wrestled for Iowa! I personally wish there were more weight classes in Olympics but on the other hand there was a chance we would never see Olympic wrestling again so I am glad it was reprieved!
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