Nick Suriano Earns Bronze at Bill Farrell Tournament

Nick Suriano wrestled in his first freestyle tournament in four years and took out some hammers along the way to finish 3rd at the Bill Farrell Memorial Tournament.

The winners at each weight would automatically qualify for the Olympic Trials.

Suriano defeated former Cornell National Champion Nahshon Garrett in the Bronze Medal Match of the 57 KG bracket.

While he hasn’t qualified for the Olympic Trials yet, Suriano showed the world that he is the real deal in freestyle wrestling as he wrestled former All-Americans and National Champions who have been competing regularly in this style of wrestling.

As far as his loss is concerned, Suriano dropped his quarterfinal match to Wisconsin’s Seth Gross by a score of 4-2. Suriano was leading 2-1 late when Gross was able to expose the back of Suriano as the Rutgers product was in on a takedown attempt with mere seconds left. After a challenge from Suriano’s corner, the call stood and Gross was awarded an additional point.

In a match where Suriano was the aggressor, and probably should have won, he showed he is on the cusp of doing some real damage in freestyle wrestling.

Fun fact, Suriano wore his Beat the Streets singlet during the tournament. Apparently, he needed a blue one or at least, an additional one for the medal match against Garrett. So, naturally, Garrett lended Suriano his second singlet.

The next chance for Suriano to qualify for the Olympic Trials will come in December during the US Senior Nationals. From December 20-22, the tournament will be held at the Bryce Jordan Center at Penn State. The top five in each weight class qualify for the Olympic Trials.