Carter Starocci posts cryptic tweet ahead of Big Ten Tournament following injury

Penn State three-time national champion Carter Starocci posted a cryptic tweet ahead of the Big Ten Wrestling Championships.

Starocci, who appeared to injure his knee during the Nittany Lions’ final dual meet against Edinboro, stayed silent on the severity of the injury. In fact, there were discussions on social media how Starocci would still qualify for NCAAs if he just accepted medical forfeits at Big Tens.

But, based on his social media post, Starocci might be ready to go.

“A true champion can adapt to anything,” Starocci wrote on Twitter. “You can either run from your adversity or face it head on and conquer it. There’s only one way in and one way out and I’m going that way. This game teaches you a lot and one thing I learned for sure is my mind is absolutely bullet proof.”

Head coach Cael Sanderson provided the latest on Starocci Thursday, but did not confirm if his No. 1 ranked wrestler was 100% or full go for Big Tens quite yet.

“He has little extra time, and then another week between the Big Tens and the Nationals,” Sanderson said. “So, he has some time to get healthy. But he’s doing pretty well. I’d say he’s doing better than we feared right away. And, he’s in really good hands with with our trainer, Dan Monthley.

“So, like I’ve said, we’re very optimistic. Carter is just a tough kid. He’s had adversity in every season. Injuries have been a big part of his career, unfortunately, even in high school. He was a little under the radar, even then, because he wasn’t, like, dominating on the scoreboard. But, a lot of times, he was he was also injured. So, he’s a tough kid. He’s dealt with some adversity in the past. So, if anybody can do it, he can.”

As far as the injury itself, Starocci won via tech fall against Edinboro, but his leg was compromised amid a scramble position

“He just was trying to get the pin and so he kind of put his leg in a compromised position and it just didn’t work out, instead of just letting the guy kind belly out there,” Sanderson said of Starocci’s injury.

“You want your kids healthy and happy, that’s every practice, every competition. That’s not always realistic, it’s part of the sport. We’re obviously thinking about Carter right now and getting him over to figure out what’s going on. We have time, we still have a couple of weeks for the conference and another week and a half before the nationals. Carter’s always been a very quick healer. He won a national title a couple of years ago with a broken hand. He’ll get in there, he’ll compete hard.”

The Big Ten Tournament is scheduled for March 9th and 10th at the University of Maryland.