Penn State wrestler Carter Starocci makes plan for NCAAs clear after cryptic Saturday night tweet
As long as he gets an at-large invitation to NCAAs as expected on Wednesday, three-time NCAA champ and Penn State 174-pound star Carter Starocci will wrestle in the national tournament. His participation was expected after he injury defaulted out of the Big Ten Tournament after a total of two seconds over two matches. But, he left College Park, Md., on Saturday before the rest of the team did on Sunday, and he sent out a tweet thanking Penn State while saying he was ready for the next chapter. On Monday, he made clear where that part of his story would start.
“Big ten title is cool but NCAA title is cooler,” Starocci wrote. “Next chapter: Kansas City.”
His message answers a question that many Nittany Lion fans had after the knee injury he suffered at the end of his match in the Edinboro two weekends ago caused him to not compete at Big Tens. Instead, he did only what he had to do to get into NCAAs. At-large bids and seeding will be announced on Wednesday. The time of that announcement is to be determined.
“We knew that with Carter’s body of work that he got a great chance to get an at-large bid. And, he’s gotta get healthy and I think he’s close,” Sanderson said Sunday, per PennLive. “You do what you can do, you take care of what you gotta take care of and what’s in front of you, and that’s what we’re always going to continue to do.”
Sanderson also addressed the situation on Saturday after Starocci’s lengthy win streak ended due to his 0-2 result at Big Tens.
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“I just said, ‘hey, man, just trust me. We need you in two weeks,” Sanderson told PennLive. “He’s just pretty upset…really upset, actually. But I think there’s just no reason when he meets the criteria to get an at-large to put himself in a position to set himself back. It just didn’t make sense. He’s not happy with me but that’s why he’s Carter.”
“He’s having a hard time with it because he’s just a competitor and he’d wrestle with both his legs hurt. We’d love to have his points. We’d love to have him go win the Big Ten but the risk, it’s not responsible for us to do it even though he obviously wanted to.”
Starocci should be seeding in the Nos. 3-6 range at NCAAs. If he had won Big Ten, he would have been No. 1. But, that shouldn’t stop the Penn State standout from being the favorite to win his fourth NCAA title. He is eligible to come back for a fifth and final season. If so, he could become the first five-time NCAA champ if he wins this year and next. Whether he does so or not, however, remains to be seen.
Even without Starocci, Penn State dominated the Big Ten Championships. It set a new school record for points. It finished with 170.5 to blow out the rest of the field.
