PHILADELPHIA — The Penn State fans inside Wells Fargo Center rose to their feet and held five fingers in the air.
In the waning seconds of Carter Starocci’s final match as a Nittany Lions superstar, one last gasp from Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen ended the same way every Starocci match has gone during his five trips to the NCAA championships.
The crowd roared as Cael Sanderson bear-hugged Starocci much like he has done every March of Starocci’s star-studded career. The yearlong chase to accomplish a dream that wasn’t even feasible when Starocci started college came to fruition. His 4-3 win in the 184-pound class against Keckeisen cemented Starocci in college wrestling history as he became the first Division I wrestler to win five individual NCAA titles.
“I’ve been in this moment so many times, year after year,” Starocci said. “I have that experience and understand what to do. Honestly, I know I’m a five-time champ, but it’s really just another match. … It’s always about the next one.”
The COVID-19-shortened 2020 season granted Starocci an extra year of eligibility, and after he stormed through the bracket in Kansas City last year on one healthy leg to win his fourth NCAA championship, questions about this year and this quest for five national titles began. Though Starocci has insisted for a year that the next match is the most important, he’s one of only seven wrestlers all time to have navigated the grueling, sweaty and often bloody three-day gantlet of a tournament to win four NCAA titles. Sanderson is a member of the exclusive club as is former Nittany Lions star Aaron Brooks, who joined Starocci as a four-time champion last year.
One wrong move or one bad day on the mat would seem inevitable for anyone. Many of the sport’s best have stumbled to be perfect. Starocci proved time and time again he was the exception.
The Penn State standout — excluding a pair of injury defaults last season — ends his college career having not lost a match since the 2021 Big Ten tournament finals. During his career, he went 104-4, which includes those two injury defaults. Even Michael Kemerer, the last wrestler to defeat Starocci, was later beaten by him in the 2021 NCAA finals.
Penn State’s Carter Starocci claimed his fifth individual NCAA crown Saturday. (Eric Hartline / Imagn Images)
“That was a heck of a feat. That’s really special,” Sanderson said. “It takes a lot of mental toughness and focus. … You got two of the best wrestlers in the country, first match up, which is kind of weird, but that was a great match. That reshot Carter hit, that was as good as it gets.”
Penn State heads back to Happy Valley after a historic showing. It secured its 13th NCAA team title, including its 12th since hiring Sanderson in 2009. It wowed the in-state crowd with all 10 wrestlers becoming All-Americans. It’s just the second team to ever have 10 All-America honorees, joining Minnesota in 2001. The Nittany Lions even one-upped themselves by setting an all-time team scoring record with 177 points. The previous mark was 172.5 — which Penn State set in 2024.
In addition to Starocci, Mitchell Mesenbrink (165 pounds) took home an individual championship. Redshirt freshman Josh Barr finished second at 197 pounds. Five wrestlers, Luke Lilledahl (125), Beau Bartlett (141), Shayne Van Ness (149), Tyler Kasak (157), and Levi Haines (174) placed third. Sophomore Braeden Davis finished fifth, and heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet withdrew from the tournament due to injury. Kerkvliet finished sixth and concluded his college career as a five-time All-America honoree.
For a program that has churned out some of the best wrestlers in the country on an annual basis, it was Starocci who had the brightest of lights on him during the NCAA championships. ESPN even flipped the rundown for Saturday night’s television broadcast to put Starocci’s historic match first in an attempt to lure in the largest audience possible. Starocci wasn’t fond of the change.
One of Sanderson’s most outspoken and most prolific wrestlers, the same one who jogs out to the haunting main title from the “Halloween” franchise, wouldn’t have wanted his college career to end any other way than in the spotlight.
One last Carter Starocci intro as a Penn State wrestler pic.twitter.com/7BVNuy2jGQ
— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) March 22, 2025
“He’s not scared of anybody,” said Mike Hahesy, who coached Starocci at Erie’s Cathedral Prep. Hahesy was on hand when Sanderson drove to the high school to recruit Starocci and was here, too, to watch Starocci chase history. “You could tell him he has to wrestle Hulk Hogan and Godzilla back-to-back, and he’d be like, ‘Yep, no problem. What mat am I on?’ He has that supreme, and I don’t know if it’s confidence or sure of himself, or I don’t know what, but he has that definitely more than any kid I ever coached and probably more than any person that’s ever wrestled.”
Starocci was once the young wrestler who holed up in his bedroom for a couple of months after he placed eighth at the Pennsylvania state tournament as a freshman in high school. His family worried about how withdrawn he became. When he emerged from the room with a list of demands for all of them — no more junk food in the house, no more of his time spent playing football — his mind was set on becoming the best wrestler possible.
“It was one of those moments that just awakens you,” Starocci said this week. “For me, it was what am I going to do with my life? Am I going to pursue this, or do I want to do something else because if I’m going to do something I’m not going to lose at it.”
Still, few people in the high school ranks or even at Penn State could’ve predicted a career like this.
Starocci is brash enough to tell all his opponents he’s going to beat them — and skilled enough to back it up. When Sanderson drove to Cathedral Prep to recruit Starocci, the coach took a detour to the home of Starocci’s high school wrestling teammate, Ian Malesiewski. Malesiewski was adjusting to life after a significant injury from wrestling left him paralyzed from the chest down.
Sanderson was there to spend time with Malesiewski, whose story spread through the wrestling world. During Sanderson’s two-plus-hour visit, he wanted to get the full picture of the wrestler he was recruiting. In a way, Malesiewski helped solidify Sanderson’s decision to keep heavily pursuing Starocci.
“We were getting ready to leave, and Cael said, ‘Should I recruit Starocci or not?’” Hahesy said. “Ian said, ‘Yeah, I think you should.’ Cael goes, ‘Well, why do you think I should recruit him?’ He goes, ‘Because you’ll never be able to find anybody that can beat him. … If Carter doesn’t go to Penn State, I don’t care who you’ll get from what state, that kid will never beat Carter.’”
He was right. Finding someone to upend Starocci, even when everyone was gunning for him, whether he won it all with a broken hand, an injured knee or with the weight of expectations on his shoulders, Starocci never backed down.
As Starocci paused for photos in the tunnel alongside his teammates Saturday, Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft leaned in for a hug. A smear of Starocci’s blood stayed on Kraft’s white hoodie, a not-so-subtle reminder of this night from one of Penn State’s all-time greats, who starred on one of the sport’s most impressive dynasties.
“I want these younger guys to keep on pushing for more and more and more and just keep that Penn State dynasty going,” Starocci said, drenched in sweat. “I’m not sure how much longer these coaches got, but I know coach Cael pretty well, and if there’s some kind of record out there or something — you guys figure it out — I’m sure when he breaks that, he’ll be done.”
(Top photo: Eric Hartline / Imagn Images)
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6223952/2025/03/23/carter-starocci-penn-state-wrestling-national-champion/
