Michigan wrestling adds NCAA champion transfer Nick Suriano
Two Olympians, a former Rutgers national champion wrestler and a Princeton All-American walk into a gymnasium, and …
It sounds like the set-up to a bad joke, but it’s actually just 40 percent of the Michigan wrestling starting lineup. All four are competitors that the Wolverines did not have the benefit of last year and will come together while hoping to help lead the 100th team in program history to an NCAA title, when the Championships are held in Detroit in March.
Princeton graduate transfer Patrick Brucki was the 197-pound fourth-place finisher at the 2019 NCAA Championships, and is off to a 7-1 start in his first season in Ann Arbor.
Olympian bronze medalist Myles Amine, who has placed among the NCAA’s top four four times including last year at 197 pounds, drops down to 184 pounds to make room for Brucki and will be back in NCAA action second semester. Fellow graduate student and Olympic competitor Stevan Micic, a former NCAA finalist for the Wolverines at 133 pounds in 2018, will also wrestle for U-M once the calendar turns, moving up to 141 pounds.
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And now the Wolverines add the most intriguing free-agent wrestler of the offseason, and perhaps the transfer portal era in the sport. Nick Suriano started his college career at Penn State, but transferred after one year to Rutgers, where he was a two-time NCAA finalist and won the program’s first national championship at 133 pounds in 2019 (he beat Micic in the semifinals that year).
Suriano has not competed in college since winning that title, which capped a 29-3 campaign and 54-4 tenure at Rutgers. He spent the last two years preparing for the Olympic Trials, but was not able to compete at the April event “due to COVID testing” according to NorthJersey.com.
Suriano was an undefeated four-time state champion in the wrestling-rich state of New Jersey, one of just two in state history to do so, joining former Rutgers teammate Anthony Ashnault.
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The Wolverines are off to a 3-0 start on the mat, ranked No. 4 in the NWCA coaches’ poll and will next compete at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Dec. 3-4. They’ll also wrestle fellow powerhouse Arizona State in Austin, Texas, Jan. 3 before starting the Big Ten schedule, which begins with a bang, a Jan. 14 date at Ohio State and then follows with a Jan. 21 home tilt against Penn State.
Michigan wrestling currently boasts nine of 10 starters ranked among the nation’s top 18 by Intermat. The starter at every weight except for 174 pounds is ranked by the outlet, which currently lists the Wolverines the No. 5 team nationally in its NCAA Championships rankings.
Suriano will provide Michigan with a significant boost, whether he wrestles at 125 or 133 pounds. The Wolverines’ current starter at both weights is listed 16th nationally, while Suriano should immediately vault into at least the top five at either class.
Suriano announced his decision on Instagram Sunday night and wrote:
“It is my honor to announce that I will represent The University of Michigan for my final NCAA season. This opportunity presents me with the final conquest to another National Championship victory.
“Nevertheless, I will [have] the honor of assisting this team in the pursuit to our first team National Championship. Let’s make history … again. 〽️”
