For Penn State's Carter Starocci, Wrestling Is the Love of 'Smashing Somebody'

The Nittany Lions' four-time NCAA champ can make Division I wrestling history in 2025. "I just love wrestling, and that’s honestly why I chose to come back,” Starocci says.

Penn State's Carter Starocci celebrates after winning his 4th NCAA Wrestling title. / Reese Strickland-Imagn Images

Penn State’s Carter Starocci will chase history this season, as he looks to become the first five-time national champion in NCAA Division I wrestling. Starocci dominated at 174 pounds the past four years but will bump up in weight class ahead of his fifth and final collegiate season. 

Starocci said 184 feels like his “natural weight,” where he can focus more on wrestling and preparing for his opponent rather than managing his weight.

“It’s getting tougher and tougher for him to get that weight down there,” Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson said. “I like the idea of him just going and competing and making weight management less of a factor in his week.” 

Starocci now looks to hold down 184, which initially was a question mark in Penn State’s lineup after All-American Bernie Truax graduated. Defending NCAA champion Levi Haines will move from 157 to 174, looking to win the Nittany Lions’ fifth straight title at the weight class and seventh since 2017.

Last year, Starocci and former Penn State teammate Aaron Brooks became the sixth and seventh wrestlers to win four Division I NCAA titles. Because the NCAA Starocci granted wrestlers who competed in 2021 extensions of their eligibility, Starocci begins the 2024-25 campaign with an opportunity to win five NCAA titles. Starocci announced his return to Penn State in May, saying, "I'm here to take over."

Starocci will get his first test at his new weight Saturday, when he takes on Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen in the 2024 NWCA All-Star Classic at Rec Hall. As the unbeaten defending national champion at 184, Keckeisen will be Starocci’s chief competition as he pursues his fifth NCAA championship. Saturday’s match will be a good measuring stick for both Starocci and Keckeisen, who are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in InterMat’s preseason rankings. 

Starocci, who has a career record of 78-4, will have a target on his back all season but said he isn’t feeling any extra pressure going into the year. He said he opted into the all-star match against Keckeisen because he was itching to get back on the mat. 

“For me, I really couldn’t care less about five NCAA titles, four NCAA titles. For me, it's not about all that,” he said. “Like for me, I just truly love going out there and just smashing somebody. That’s part of the reason why I chose to do the all-star match. Like, I don’t have to do the all-star match, but I just love wrestling, and that’s honestly why I chose to come back.” 

Sanderson echoed that he doesn’t expect Starocci’s mindset to shift just because of the expectations and historical nature of his upcoming season.

“I think the process for improvement never really ends, so I don’t think you’ll see a shift in his mindset of trying to hold onto something or trying to not lose,” Sanderson said.

Starocci sustained a leg injury last season that forced him to take two injury defaults at the Big Ten Tournament. He came back from the injury in time for the NCAA Championships, where he went 5-0 to secure his fourth straight title. 

Factoring out those injury defaults, Starocci has won 69 straight collegiate matches. He hasn’t lost since his freshman season, when he fell to Iowa’s Michael Kemerer 9-2 in the Big Ten Tournament. He’d later trample Kemerer 14-2 in the national championship bout. 

Though Starocci can become the first wrestler to win five Division I titles, he won’t set the NCAA record for most individual championships. That belongs to Carlton Haselrig, the former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman who won six NCAA wrestling titles in two different weight classes for Pitt-Johnstown. Haselrig won three Division I titles and three in Division II when the NCAA allowed wrestlers to compete in two classifications.

 Still, Starocci is poised to pursue history his way.

“If you’re doing any less than me, I’m gonna go out there and dominate you,” Starocci said. “There’s no way you’re doing more than me because it’s impossible, and if you are, now your body’s overtrained and I’m still gonna dominate you, so I just feel like there’s no real way around it.”.

More Penn State Wrestling

Cael Sanderson says Penn State wrestling's best years are still ahead

A look at Penn State's 2024-25 wrestling schedule

Why Cael Sanderson spoke with the Penn State football team this season

Sam Woloson has covered Penn State Athletics for the past three years and is currently the managing editor of The Daily Collegian. His work has also appeared in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Huntingdon Daily News and Rivals. Follow him on X @sam_woloson