Penn State's Carter Starocci Won't Wrestle at Big Ten Championships

Starocci, a 3-time NCAA champ, takes an injury default at Big Tens, ending his win streak at 64.

Penn State's Carter Starocci voluntarily ended his 64-bout win streak Saturday, taking two injury defaults at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships. Starocci now awaits an at-large bid to the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships, where he will seek his fourth national title.

Starocci, the nation's top-ranked wrestler at 174 pounds, weighed in at 174 pounds Saturday, took the mat against two opponents and put on the scoring band before defaulting 1 second into each bout. It was the required procedure for Starocci to be eligible for the NCAA Championships. He wore a sleeve on his right leg for the quarterfinal bout but appeared to be walking normally during the day.

"He wanted to wrestle the whole tournament and was planing on wrestling the tournament," Sanderson said Saturday night, according to the Centre Daily Times. "It is really tough for him. He's having a hard time about this. He'd wrestle if both of his legs were hurt. He's just so competitive. He's pretty upset, but there's just no reason, when he meets the criteria to get an at-large [bid to NCAAs], to put himself in a position to set himself back. He's not happy with me, but that's why he's Carter Starocci."

By defaulting out of the tournament, Starocci did not earn one of the Big Ten's eight qualifying spots to the NCAA Championships at 174 pounds. He is assured to receive one of the four at-large selections but could be seeded outside the top five. The NCAA on Tuesday will announce at-large selections for the 2024 tournament, scheduled for March 21-23 in Kansas City.

Starocci was a public question mark heading into the Big Ten tournament. The two-time defending Big Ten champ at 174 sustained a leg injury in the waning seconds of Penn State's last regular-season match against Edinboro on Feb. 25. Starocci had clinched a technical fall and was pursuing the pin when his leg twisted between his competitor's. Starocci was helped off the mat after the bout.

Last week Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said that Starocci planned to continue his "search-and-destroy" mission at the Big Ten tournament. But even two weeks ago, Sanderson said he was "optimistic" about Starocci's health.

"Carter’s a tough kid," Sanderson said after the match at Penn State's Rec Hall. "He’s been to the national tournament with injuries before. ... He was obviously in some pain, and we carried him off the best we could, and he’s just going to go to work and get ready to roll."

Starocci had not lost since the 2021 Big Ten tournament final against Iowa's Michael Kemerer. Starocci avenged that loss in the 2021 NCAA final, scoring a sudden-victory takedown for a 3-1 win over Kemerer.

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