“Big reason why I chose to comeback”- Carter Starocci reveals what fueled his return for fifth NCAA title

The rising freestyle and former folkstyle wrestler, Carter Starocci, recently shared his thoughts on competing for his fifth NCAA title. The Penn State wrestler revealed the reason for his comeback and how he wants to conclude his successful collegiate career.

Starocci earned a bronze medal in the 2022 U23 World Wrestling Championships, which were held in Pontevedra, Spain. He recently made his appearance in the 2025 NCAA Championships Athlete Presser along with Gable Steveson, Keegan O'Toole, and AJ Ferrari. Starocci expressed the reason behind his return to clinch his fifth title and mentioned (in a video of the presser uploaded by USA Wrestling on YouTube):

“For me, it's never really about the tournament or just year after year. I just really love dominating, and that's kind of a big reason why I chose to come back this year was, obviously last year I was dealing with the injury and things like that, and it just, it wasn't the way I wanted to finish up and so now, I'm looking to finish this thing off the way I intended to healthy in style and dominant,” he shared [5:23 onwards]

Starocci, 24, trains under Penn State head coach, Cael Sanderson, who was a former Olympic wrestler. He remained undefeated during his collegiate career at Iowa State University.

The Pennsylvania native is a four-time NCAA Division I Champion in the 174 lb category. He also has three medals from the Big Ten Championships. In 2021, Starocci was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and is a four-time All-American.

Carter Starocci shares his vision of elevating the sport of wrestling

Carter Starocci at the 2023 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championship - Source: Getty

Carter Starocci is a prominent collegiate wrestler and has amassed impressive achievements throughout the years. He is a two-time Big Ten Conference champion, and during his high school years, he was one of the top recruits.

During his discussion with “Nittany Sports Now,” the two-time PIAA State Champion, shared his thoughts on the measures that can be taken to increase the potential and success of wrestling. He added [1:20 onwards]:

“That's not my place to say; I'm the athlete, so whatever the rules are, I got to adjust and make happen so you don't get anywhere by complaining. So you just got to figure it out and do the best so. But I think there's other ways, just from as an athlete that there's just better ways,” Starocci said.

He continued,

“I just feel like they're just compromising having it so early with like late weight cuts; it's just like you want the athletes at their best so they can put on a show and perform. You don't want to make it hard and just like not giving the guys any weight.”

Starocci was named to the first-team All-Big Ten twice and was given an extra year of eligibility as he competed in the 2020-2021 season, which was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.