57kg at the US Open this year just got a lot more loaded as Spencer Lee has officially registered.
Now that he is in there are two main matchups that people are looking forward too. Depending on how the seeds fall one of these might not be possible, but Lee vs Glory could’ve very well been the NCAA Finals this year and most people probably did have that match going down in the finals.
The next one is of course Nick Suriano, the match that we never got in 2022. Lee was forced out to medical redshirt that season and Suriano would go on to win his second national title that year. They met in 2018 for the national title and Lee defeated Suriano to win his 1st.
If Suriano or Lee win the US Open that makes things fun as the winner will go on to face 2021 world champion Thomas Gilman at Final X.
Of course Lee and Gilman were teammates at the Hawkeye Wrestling Club and once Gilman left there were a lot of rumors. Lee shut that down on a recent podcast saying that things were cool between the two and he wished Gilman well.
Suriano and Gilman met during Suriano’s freshman season in college while he was at Penn State. Gilman would win that match handing Suriano his first collegiate loss. They would not wrestle again that season being that Suriano would get injured vs OK State and be out for the rest of the season. Since then they have not met and it has been a highly anticipated bout for years now just like Lee vs Gilman.
Talking about some other guys in the weight class you have Pat Glory who of course won the national title this year defeating Matt Ramos who pinned Spencer Lee. Then you have Zane Richards who dominated at the world cup. Both of these guys are favored to be towards the top but I doubt anyone would really pick either of these two to win the Open based on their prior results.