Carter Starocci has a place all to himself among the pantheon of college wrestling greats.
The Penn State star became the sport’s first five-time NCAA champion Saturday night with a 4-3 victory against Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen in a clash of 184-pound titans.
Starocci broke a 1-1 third-period tie when he counter-attacked a Keckeisen shot and finished a takedown with 48 seconds remaining.
It was vintage Starocci in a high-stakes setting with impenetrable defense and opportunistic offense. That combination helped him collect his first four titles. He knocked off top-seeded Michael Kemerer in overtime as a freshman in 2021. He prevailed in a two-tiebreaker battle with fellow NCAA champ Mekhi Lewis as a sophomore in 2022. He decked Mike Labriola in the first period in 2023. He demonstrated his mettle in 2024 when he became the sixth four-time NCAA champ, finishing the tournament with three shutout wins against a pair of past national champs on a heavily braced right knee that prevented him from competing two weeks earlier at the Big Ten Championships.
This year, however, brought new challenges. Starocci moved up a weight — into the class Keckeisen dominated a year ago. They collided in November at the NWCA All-Star Classic and Starocci prevailed in a bloody 4-1 overtime scrap.
As his career unfolded, Starocci lamented the fact that many opponents were reluctant to engage. That wasn’t an issue with Keckeisen.
“I think that’s one of the blessings of going to Penn State University,” said Starocci, who finished his career with the Nittany Lions with a 104-4 record. “You have really high-level guys. (Penn State four-time NCAA champion Aaron Brooks) wrestled him a few times and he beat him for a national title (in 2023). We have almost every single look in the room possible.
“Obviously, we have the greatest wrestler of all time in coach Cael Sanderson and all of our coaches, too. Having that alone, I think that piece alone already separates you. And add in everything else, and you’ve got to go out there and have the will to win.”
Starocci’s never been short on will — or belief, for that matter.
“Obviously as a competitor, when you toe the line, I believe I’m the baddest dude out there,” he said Saturday night when asked about his place among college wrestling’s all-time greats. “But in real terms, just coach Cael Sanderson, I think it’s one thing to go out there and do it, but I think it takes a whole other level of understanding and knowledge and things like that to get other people to do what you know how to do.
“And he coached four-time NCAA champs, an Olympic champ. He’s coached everything that he’s done. When you are able to replicate that that’s something that’s going to live on forever, where something like five national titles, I feel something like that comes and goes. But he really marked this thing. I think he’s the greatest of all time.”
