Penn State Wrestling: Suriano Will Miss NCAA Championships

The Penn State wrestling team’s hopes for a second consecutive national title and sixth in seven years suffered a setback Wednesday when the program announced freshman Nick Suriano will not be able to compete in the NCAA Championships.

Suriano was the No. 3 seed at 125 pounds and was heading into the national championships with a 16-3 record. His only loss during the regular dual meet season came in January in a narrow 3-2 decision at the hands of No. 1 ranked Thomas of Iowa.

But in the NWCA Dual Championship Series against Oklahoma State, Suriano suffered an ankle injury early in his bout against the Cowboys’ Nick Piccininni, forcing Suriano to injury default. The Nittany Lions’ went on to win the dual championship anyway with a dominant performance over the final seven bouts for a 27-13 victory.

Heading into the Big Ten Championships on March 4 it was uncertain whether Suriano would be able to go. That was answered when he took an injury default one second into his opening round bout then took a medical forfeit to end his tournament. Without Suriano, and with a few surprising losses, the Nittany Lions, who dominated the dual meet season with a 14-0 record, finished second at the championships behind Ohio State

Suriano’s appearance at Big Tens, however, allowed him to be selected at-large for the NCAAs, and Coach Cael Sanderson clearly hoped the two-week gap would give Suriano time to heal.

It looked like that would be the case heading into this week, as Sanderson said on Monday Suriano would compete. But on Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the NCAA Championships are scheduled to begin at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, the team’s Twitter account broke the news.

The Nittany Lions will now be down to eight wrestlers competing in the NCAA Championships. Penn State also will be without a competitor at 133 pounds, where the Nittany Lions have struggled all season since sophomore Jered Cortez went down with an injury in December.

Oklahoma State, meanwhile, is one of just two teams in the field to have all 10 wrestlers competing (the other, N.C. State) and the only team to have 10 seeded wrestlers.

Ohio State, the other likely main competitor, brings nine wrestlers to St. Louis, five of them seeded. At 133, where Penn State does not have a competitor, the Buckeyes Nathan Tomasello is seeded No. 1 and the favorite for the title. Oklahoma State’s Kaid Brock, No. 3 at 133, is another serious title contender, and the two have a chance to rack up significant team points that could provide some distance for both teams from the Nittany Lions.

Ohio State also has another No. 1 at heavyweight in the undefeated Olympian Kyle Snyder. Should Penn State’s Nick Nevills, seeded fifth, win through, he wouldn’t have to face Snyder — defending national champion and last year’s NCAA Championships’ Most Outstanding Wrestler — until the semifinals on Friday night.

If the Nittany Lions are to claim a national title, they’ll need dominant runs from undefeated Big Ten champions Zain Retherford (No. 1 at 149) and Jason Nolf (No. 1 at 157), as well as a strong run to the finals by Bo Nickal, the No. 2 seed at 184 who was undefeated on the year until a Big Ten final loss to Ohio State’s Myles Martin. The Buckeye has dealt Nickal two of his three collegiate losses, but Nickal is still the favorite to meet Cornell’s undefeated Gabe Dean in the championship final.

Penn State also will need unseeded senior Jimmy Gulibon to return to the form he showed in winning his final six dual meet bouts before placing seventh at 141 at Big Tens. Sanderson will also be looking to get deep runs from redshirt freshman Vincenzo Joseph (No. 3 at 165), freshman Mark Hall (No. 5 at 174) and junior Matt McCutcheon (No. 5 at 197).

Hall has been excellent since burning his redshirt for the Iowa bout in January. Between tournament and dual meet action, the true freshman is 26-3 on with 12 pins, and finished second at the Big Ten Championships.

More: Keys to a National Title for the Nittany Lions.

Action gets started at noon on Thursday in St. Louis, and the championship finals are at 8 p.m.

Each round will air on ESPN networks with the following schedule: