Penn State wrestling podcast: Carter Starocci talk, regular season highlights, and more
Penn State wrestling is ramping up for the postseason. The No. 1 Nittany Lions closed out a perfect 12-0 regular season by blasting Edinboro last Sunday at Rec Hall. The excitement about the Senior Day celebration before the match and the many victories during it was dampened by three-time NCAA champion Carter Starocci suffering a lower-body injury late in his technical fall victory. He was seen grasping his right knee and needed help off the mat.
“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,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said, per PennLive.
“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.”
Does Penn State wrestler Carter Starocci have to compete at Big Tens to make NCAAs?
Whether or not Starocci will compete at Big Tens, or what he would need to do there at a minimum level to qualify for NCAAs, is how the final Blue-White Illustrated Penn State wrestling show of February starts. Host Thomas Frank Carr and reporter Greg Pickel recap the Edinboro match after that discussion. From there, the pair hands out some regular season accolades while looking back on the year to date as a whole. The show concludes with an early look at next week’s Big Ten Tournament, which is March 9-10 at Maryland.
Watch the show in the embedded video player above. Want to listen to it? Podcast links: SPOTIFY, APPLE.
Blue-White Illustrated will have complete coverage of the Penn State wrestling postseason push. The team will try to qualify all 10 starters for nationals at Big Tens. Then, it will take its contingent to Kansas City, Mo., for nationals March 21-23. Bracket information will be announced by the NCAA for that tournament on Wed., March 13.
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