Suriano Cleared to Wrestle This Season at Rutgers
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – It’s official. Former Penn State lightweight Nick Suriano is now a student at Rutgers University and has been granted a waiver to be eligible in the upcoming wrestling season.
Suriano, who was 16-1 as a freshman before an injury at Penn State last season, has enrolled at Rutgers University as a transfer student. A Rutgers release Wednesday said Suriano is immediately eligible to participate in 2017-18 for Rutgers wrestling, and will have three seasons of eligibility remaining.
“We are excited that Nick has decided to come back home and join our program,” said head coach Scott Goodale. “This is a young man with an incredible work ethic and drive that doesn’t come around all that often. We are beyond excited that Nick is eligible to compete right away. This is a student-athlete that deserves the opportunity to chase his dream of becoming a national champion in his home state.”
Goodale, a New Jersey native, wrestled for coach Carl Poff at Lock Haven University. Rutgers is scheduled to vist LHU’s Thomas Field House on Dec. 1. Rutgers will host Penn State on Jan. 28.
“New Jersey is my home and it’s what I want to represent,” said Suriano. “I want to make history and bring New Jersey and Rutgers with me. I have all the support and coaching I need right here at this university. This was my decision, and I’m confident in it and the support of the team I have around me.”
Competing at 125 pounds, Suriano finished 16-3 as a true freshman for the Nittany Lions in 2016-17, which included a 12-2 mark in dual action and an 8-1 record in Big Ten duals. Suriano was seeded third at the 2017 NCAA Championships in St. Louis at 125 pounds, but was unable to compete in the tournament due to injury. Two of Suriano’s losses were the result of injury, while his other defeat came against Iowa’s Thomas Gilman, who was the 2017 Big Ten champion and NCAA runner-up in his weight class.
The Paramus, New Jersey, native enrolled at PSU after he produced one of the greatest high school careers in Garden State history. Suriano earned four NJSIAA State Championships at Bergen Catholic and finished his scholastic career a perfect 159-0. Suriano was just the fourth four-time New Jersey state champion all-time and is the only wrestler in state history to match his four individual titles with four team championships.
Rutgers (12-5) closed the 2016-17 dual season tied for 12th in the final USA Today/NWCA Coaches Poll, which included a 6-3 finish in Big Ten action and an undefeated 6-0 mark at home. The six conference wins marked the most since the Scarlet Knights joined the conference in 2014.
