Could Carter Starocci Return to Penn State to Pursue a Fifth NCAA Title?

Penn State's four-time champion opens the door for a possible return to the Nittany Lions.

Penn State's Carter Starocci competes in the 86 kg men's freestyle weight class at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College. / Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

If he returns to Penn State for fifth season, and he leaned slightly in that direction this weekend. Carter Starocci established some clear reasons for that decision.

"If I come back, it's not going to be for school," Starocci told reporters Saturday at the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials in State College. "I'm not going to let anything come in the way of what I want. If what I want is to come back and wrestle and win a fifth national title and have our team win another national title, that's because I want to do it. It's not because of NIL, it's not because of this, it's not because of that. It's because I want to do it."

With that, Starocci cracked open a very large door to accomplishing a feat no one has in collegiate wrestling: win five NCAA championships. Penn State's four-time champion at 174 pounds said Saturday that he's leaning "60-40" in favor of returning to Penn State next season. Starocci has one season of eligibility remaining, granted by the COVID waiver that extended into the 2021 wrestling campaign, and could use it to make history. He and teammate Aaron Brooks became Penn State's first and second four-time NCAA champs. They are among seven wrestlers in NCAA history to win four titles.

But this unique circumstance afford Starocci the opportunity to win become the first, and perhaps only, to win five. So before the U.S. Olympic Trials began, Starocci told FloWrestling that he had flipped from "60-40" against returning to "60-40" for it. He repeated that Saturday during the Trials.

"As I said in my last interview, I was 60-40 not coming back, but now that I’ve been thinking about it a little more, I’m 60-40 [for] coming back. So we’ll see," Starocci said. "I just know, I don’t like cutting weight. It felt really good out there [at the trials] not having to cut weight and just being me, so we’ll see how it goes. I haven't thought too much into it because I was getting ready for this, and now this is still going on, and I have a bunch of my boys getting ready to go scrap. So when that’s all done, all the clouds are kind of gone, then I’ll sit back and think more on that."

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Starocci has wrestled the past four college seasons at 174 pounds, putting together a 64-match win streak before taking two injury-default losses at the Big Ten Championships. He moved up to the 86 kg weight class for the trials, which equals 189.6 pounds. It's a significant bump competitively, and Starocci still wore a knee sleeve because of the injury he sustained five weeks before the NCAA Championships. Ultimately, Starocci fell to North Carolina State's Trent Hidlay, who lost to Brooks in the 197-pound NCAA final, and injury defaulted out of the trials' consolation bracket.

Starocci chose not to discuss the injury but did say that he's tired of cutting weight to maintain 174 pounds for the college season. If he does return to Penn State, Starocci almost certainly will move up at least one weight class. He might even wrestle at Brooks' 197-pound class. Starocci plans to make his decision within a few weeks.

"It would be good on my part to make the decision somewhat soon just so our team can formulate," Starocci said. "But I think however the team formulates, I don't think anyone’s coming close to Penn State for a long, long time."

Concurrently, Starocci is continuing his freestyle career. He will pursue a place on the 2025 U.S. team at 79 kg for the world championships. And he's pointed squarely toward the 2028 Summer Olympics. But as for returning to Penn State, we'll see.

"I don't even think my mom and dad know what I'm doing yet," he said.

AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich.