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Penn State's Carter Starocci Wins Landmark 5th Title at NCAA Wrestling Championships

Starocci, the Nittany Lions' star, becomes the first Division I wrestler to win five NCAA wrestling titles.

Mark Wogenrich

Penn State’s Carter Starocci became the first five-time champion at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
Penn State’s Carter Starocci became the first five-time champion at the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. / Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

PHILADELPHIA | Penn State wrestler Carter Starocci won his fifth NCAA wrestling title Saturday, achieving a feat that hasn't happened before and that no one expects to see again. Starocci became the only five-time NCAA champion in Division I wrestling history, taking advantage of the COVID waiver athletes received during the 2020-21 season to solidify his career as one of the greatest wrestlers in NCAA Championships history.

Starocci defeated Northern Iowa's Parker Keckeisen 4-3 in the 184-pound final Saturday night, punctuating a 25-0 career at the NCAA Wrestling Championships. In the process, Starocci also lifted Penn State, which already had clinched the team title, to a record-setting points total for the second consecutive season.

The Nittany Lions fielded an entire roster of 10 All-Americans, none of whom placed lower than sixth, and broke the scoring record of 172.5 points they set last year in Kansas City. Penn State clinched its fourth straight team title during Saturday morning's consolation round, leaving Starocci and teammates Mitchell Mesenbrink (165) and Josh Barr (194) to wrestle for individual titles knowing they already had secured the team championship.

Yet before the final, Starocci said the historic opportunity resonated little with him personally.

"It's just something that comes along," he said. "I'm not going to downplay the opportunity. Obviously I'm here doing it, so it obviously means a lot to me. But for the five-time national champ itself, to me it has no meaning. You can take the Penn State wrestling championship logo away, take the name away, take you guys away, put whoever is in front of me, and I'm ready to go. And for me, that's why I do it."

Starocci was at his best in big events during his Penn State career. The Erie, Pennsylvania, native finished with a career record of 104-4, and two of those losses were by injury default at the 2024 Big Ten Championships. Starocci did not lose a bout on the mat after the 2021 Big Ten finals and he never lost a bout at NCAAs, winning the 2024 title essentially on one leg after sustaining an injury late in the regular season.

Though Starocci became the first five-time champion in Division I history, he did not set the record for most NCAA Wrestling titles. That belongs to the late Carlton Haselrig, who won six titles over three seasons wrestling for Pitt-Johnstown.

Haselrig, who later played offensive line for the Pittsburgh Steelers, won three titles each in NCAA Divisions I and II. After Haselrig's run in the late 1980s, the NCAA changed its rules and disallowed Division II wrestlers from competing in the Division I tournament. Further, Starocci also deferred any greatest-wrestler talk to his coach, Cael Sanderson, who went 159-0 and won four NCAA titles at Iowa State.

"We have the greatest wrestler to ever walk the earth as our head coach," Starocci said. "So I could win five titles, six, seven, eight. When you look at coach Cael Sanderson, he's the guy always. That will

always humble you up real quick."

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is Editor and Publisher of AllPennState, the site for Penn State news on SI's FanNation Network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs and three Rose Bowls.

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