Carter Starocci expressed his feelings about securing a spot in the NCAA finals after beating Dustin Plott in the 184-pound category. Starocci will vie for her fifth National title win on March 22, 2025.
Carter Starocci started his run for the NCAA title strong, achieving his 100th win after defeating Caden Rogers of the Lehigh Wrestling team 18-2. The No. 1 then squared off against Maryland's Jaxon Smith, winning 9-1 to advance to the semi-finals before locking horns with Oklahoma State's Dustin Plott. He outshined Pilot 9-3 and secured his spot in the finals.
Delighting in the achievement, the Penn State wrestler shared an Instagram story with the caption:
Trending
"All Day"
Starocci will bag his fifth consecutive National title if he wins the final match against Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa.
In an X post from Thursday, March 20, the 24-year-old wrestler expressed his desire to etch his name in the history books.
"It’s time to re write the history books. I never go after records. But they seem to always come after me. I will etch my name in the FOREVER stone once again this weekend," he wrote.
Carter Starocci was undefeated in the sophomore and junior seasons. Suffering a knee injury in the 2023-2024 season, and missing the Big Ten Championships, the Pennsylvania-born advanced to the National stage for his past accomplishments. With back-to-back wins, he defended his title for the third time at the 2024 NCAA Championships.
Carter Starocci reveals reasons behind his return to the Penn State program for the fifth-year eligibility
Starocci, the U23 World bronze medalist, amassed two Big Ten Conference titles out of Penn State. While his impressive repertoire awaits the fifth NCAA title, Starocci graced the Athlete Presser ahead of the event and revealed why he returned to the college program.
"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 said (beginning 5:23).
Starocci attended the Cathedral Preparatory School, honing his wrestling prowess and winning two PIAA state champion titles.
