NCAA Session IV notes: Rutgers' first finalist, Suriano aims to become the program's first NCAA champion

2018 NCAA athlete interviews

Attendance: Session IV - 18,680; Total – 74,700

Suriano Cruises to the Finals
Sophomore Nick Suriano became the first NCAA finalist in Rutgers history after defeating returning NCAA champion and No. 1 Darian Cruz of Lehigh in the 125-pound semifinals, 2-0. Suriano guarantees Rutgers its highest finish in program history and since 1960 when Mike Leta took third at 130 pounds.

Tomorrow, Suriano, the four seed, aims to become Rutgers’ first NCAA champion as he takes on No. 3 Spencer Lee of Iowa.

Haught on the Heels of History
Jared Haught of Virginia Tech became only the second Hokie in program history to advance to the NCAA finals, when he defeated No. 2 Ben Darmstadt of Cornell with a third-period pin in the 197-pound finals.

A Haught win in tomorrow night’s finals against NC State’s Mike Macchiavello would give the Hokies its first individual national champion.

The only other VT wrestler to advance to the NCAA finals was Devin Carter, who fell to eventual four-time champion Logan Stieber of Ohio State in the 2014 NCAA finals at 141 pounds.

Where No 15-Seed has Gone Before
Ronnie Perry of Lock Haven became the first No. 15 seed in NCAA history to make it to the championship bout when he defeated 2017 All-American and No. 11 Matthew Kolodzik in the 149-pound semifinals, 5-3, thanks to a late third-period takedown.

He is also Lock Haven’s first NCAA finalist since 1997.

Unseeded to All-American
Seven unseeded wrestlers reached the All-American podium on Friday. Two of these wrestlers, Tariq Wilson of North Carolina State (133) and Kyle Conel of Kent State (197), reached All-American status in the morning session by advancing to the semifinals. Wilson was forced into the consolation bracket after losing to No. 1 Seth Gross of South Dakota State in overtime, and Conel was pinned by No. 5 Michael Macchiavello of North Carolina State.

The other five unseeded wrestlers to become All-Americans are Scott Delvecchio of Rutgers (133), Sa’Derian Perry of Eastern Michigan (141), Chad Red of Nebraska (141), Chip Ness of North Carolina (184) and Jacob Holschlag of University of Northern Iowa (197).

Perry became Eastern Michigan’s first All-American since 1999.

Delvecchio, Red and Holschlag each lost their first-round matches and had to win four matches in a row to secure a top-eight finish. Perry and Ness reached the quarterfinals, before getting sent to the backside of the bracket and having to win a bloodround match to reach the podium.

Retherford on a Roll
Two-time NCAA champion and 2017 Hodge Trophy recipient Zain Retherford of Penn State is currently riding a 93-match win streak on the way to his third NCAA finals appearance. Retherford holds the longest active win streak in the country that dates back to 2014. His last loss came in the consolation semifinals of the 2014 NCAA tournament to Edinboro’s Mitchell Port.

As of now, Retherford has a career record of 125-3. Of those, he has 53 pins, which ties the all-time PSU record held by David Taylor and Josh Moore.

Buckeye Trio Makes History
With Bo Jordan’s win in the round of 12 on Friday night, Ohio State tallies the first trio in NCAA history to become four-time All-Americans in the same year.

Locking up AA status earlier in the day for the fourth time was 2015 NCAA champion Nathan Tomasello and two-time NCAA champion Kyle Snyder.

Tomasello finished 1-3-3 in his first three years, Snyder went 2-1-1 and Jordan went 3-3-2.

What in the World
Seven past age-group World medalists advanced to the NCAA finals on Friday night.

Highlighting the group is 2016 Olympic champion, two-time Senior World champion and two-time Junior World medalist Kyle Snyder of Ohio State. He’ll take on a Junior World freestyle and Greco bronze medalist and 2011 Cadet World champion in Adam Coon of Michigan in the heavyweight finals.

Two more World medalists will go head-to-head in the 174-pound finals as two-time Junior World champion and 2014 Cadet World champion Mark Hall of Penn State takes on 2017 Junior World silver medalist Zahid Valencia of Arizona State. The two have been on three Junior World Teams together from 2015-17. Hall wrestled at 74 kg/163 lbs., while Valencia wrestled at 84 kg/185 lbs.

Iowa freshman star Spencer Lee, who made the finals at 125 pounds, was the first American to win three age-group World titles in a row, including a Cadet World gold in 2014 and Junior World gold medals in 2015 and 2016.

Another true freshman finalist, who has made an impact on the World level, is Yianni Diakomihalis of Cornell, who earned a bid to the 141-pound finals. Diakomihalis is a two-time Cadet World champion, winning titles in 2015 and 2016. 

The always-dominating Zain Retherford is back in the NCAA finals at 149 for the third time. Retherford is a 2012 Cadet World champion and represented Team USA at the Senior World Championships in Paris, France, last summer.

At 133, Stevan Micic, a 2015 Junior World bronze medalist, earned a bid to the finals after defeating Ohio State’s Luke Pletcher, 8-4.

Other NCAA finalists who have represented the United States at the World Championships include South Dakota State’s Seth Gross at 133, who competed at the 2012 Cadet and 2016 Junior World championships, and Illinois’ 165-pounder Isaiah Martinez, who traveled to Poland this fall to compete at the U23 World Championships.

Here We Go Again: NCAA Finals Rematches
The tomorrow night's finals will feature two previous NCAA finals rematches, including a 2017 rematch at 165 between two-time national champion Isaiah Martinez of Illinois (2015 and 2016) and defending NCAA champion Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State. Joseph pinned Martinez in the 2017 finals last season to dethrone the two-time champion. Martinez, did however, beat Joseph at the B1G championships two weeks ago.

The other rematch is between Bo Nickal of Penn State and Myles Martin of Ohio State, who battled it out for the 174-pound title in 2016, where Martin won in an 11-9 thriller. This time, they will meet at 184 pounds.

Saturday night will mark the ninth time these two juniors have wrestled each other in their collegiate career. Nickal is 6-2 in the series. Martin’s only other win came in the Big Ten Championship quarterfinals in 2017.

“This is the first time we will wrestle for the ninth time so we’ll see how it goes,” Nickal said.

Still Undefeated
Seven of the 20 NCAA finalists remain perfect on the year without a single loss. At least one of these will be tarnished tomorrow night as the two finalists at 174, Zahid Valencia and Mark Hall, are undefeated.

125: No. 4 Nick Suriano (Rutgers) 25-0
149: No. 1 Zain Retherford (Penn State) 30-0
157: No. 1 Hayden Hidlay (NC State) 26-0
165: No. 1 Isaiah Martinez (Illinois) 18-0
174: No. 1 Zahid Valencia (Arizona State) 31-0
174: No. 2 Mark Hall (Penn State) 32-0
184: No. 1 Bo Nickal (Penn State) 30-0