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PITTSBURGH – Ten minutes after winning the first national wrestling title in the history of the Rutgers school, Nick Suriano stopped answering a question about the feat and pointed a television at the Background of his press conference. He had a proclamation to make on a teammate.
"Anthony Ashnault, on the screen next door, will do it next, and it will be a day of history – it's a blessing," Suriano said.
Indeed, after winning no national title since 1930, Rutgers got title No. 2 half an hour later at PPG Paints Arena.
His 149-pound teammate, Ashnault, ended his career in Scarlet Knights with a 9-4 win over Micah Jordan of the Ohio State. Twice earlier, Suriano had avenged a regular-season loss to Daton Fix, of Oklahoma State, beating the Cowboy 4-2 in the second period of sudden wins this time. this.
At his post-game press conference, Suriano paused before the first question while images of his father celebrating the victory were placed in the background.
"I just watch my father go crazy," he says before continuing. "It was not about leaving this last game, I was so close."
Suriano needed a late escape from the base to get the match up to the second period of sudden victory, but he understood it. He then scored the school's history with a shot on goal against Fix.
Suriano was a decorated star of New Jersey High School, undefeated en route to four state titles. He went to Penn State for a year before being transferred to Rutgers. He lost in the 125-pound final last year, but has picked up again this season to win the 133 pound division in the most difficult weight category considered by most observers.
Ashnault fought injuries earlier in his career and received a sixth year of NCAA eligibility. He swept 2018-19 with a 36-0 record, culminating in the national title on Saturday night. Due to the order of the finals, which started in the heavyweights, Suriano took the mat first and beat Ashnault at historic weight.
At his press conference, Ashnault cut a question saying that he should be related for the first time to Suriano in the history of the school.
"No, he's the first one," said Ashnault. "I had three chances, I did not succeed."
The two individual titles propelled Rutgers to ninth place in the team standings.
Virginia Tech also saw its first national champion: eighth-seeded Hokie Mekhi Lewis defeated defending Penn State champion Vincenzo Joseph 7-1 in the 165-pound final.
As expected, Penn State won its eighth team title in nine years, placing five wrestlers in the final and three champions.
Heavyweight Anthony Cassar beat Derek White, Oklahoma State's favorite 10-1, for the night to begin. The Nittany Lions, Jason Nolf and Bo Nickal, then ended their careers in style. Seniors have won their third individual title in the NCAA and their fourth team title since joining State College. Nolf managed Nebraska's Tyler Berger 10-2 for the 157-pound crown. Nickal beat Kollin Moore of the Ohio State in the 197-pound 5-1 final.
Mark Hall (Penn State) fell into the 174-pound final against Zahid Valencia of Arizona State in a tight 4-3 decision. Valencia also beat Hall to win the NCAA title last year.
In the other three finals, Spencer Lee of Iowa, went 5-0 to Jack Mueller of Virginia at 125 pounds. Yianni Diakomihalis of Cornell defended her 141-pound title by beating Joey McKenna (6-4) in overtime and Drew Foster of North Iowa against Maxwell Dean of Cornell 6-4 at 184 pounds.
The final team ranking was won by Penn State (137.5 points), Ohio (96.5), Oklahoma State (84), Iowa (76) and Michigan (62.5).
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