Dan Rainville - Imagn Images
Penn State Nittany Lion wrestler Carter Starocci has a chance to make history at this weekend’s NCAA Wrestling Championships. The four-time national champion has a chance to become the only five-time champion in the history of the NCAA D1 Wrestling Championships due to the free COVID year granted to athletes for the 2020-2021 season.
Starocci, never one to back down from giving a good quote, gave another one out at his final local media availability before the heavily-favored Nittany Lions head down to Philadelphia to try to capture their fourth-straight national championship. Starocci isn’t focused on winning the tournament, as he’s just worrying about “killing” his competition.
The Erie native won his fourth-straight championship last year just four weeks after suffering a serious knee injury in a cupcake dual meet against Edinboro while finishing off a technical fall victory. After contemplating quitting the team when legendary Penn State Coach Cael Sanderson, the only wrestler in NCAA D1 history to be a four-time undefeated champion, held him out of the Big Ten Tournament two weeks after the injury. But, he was ready to go for nationals, and beat two former national champs in Virginia Tech’s Mekhi Lewis and Michigan’s Shane Griffith en route to his fourth title at 174lb.
Now up at 184lb, Starocci has arguably his biggest challenge yet. the second-seed in the tournament is Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa. Keckeisen was an undefeated champion at this weight class a year ago, was 2nd in 2023, and 3rd in 2022 and 2021. If not for the Penn Stater, Keckeisen would be a heavy favorite. The two met in an exhibition All-Star match prior to the season, and Carter Starocci won in overtime.
Five wins away from history, he’s not worried about that match, or any match, really. He’s looking to kill.
Carter Starocci says his focus isn’t specifically on a fifth championship
“I want to make sure, before I go, that I kill all these guys” pic.twitter.com/iNh05TNgyY
— Evan Smith (@EvanRGSmith) March 17, 2025
A motivated Carter Starocci? Look out.
The tournament kicks off on Thursday and runs through Saturday, televised on the ESPN family of networks.