Penn State Wrestling: Predicting Carter Starocci’s season … can he do it again?
By Chris Snyder
Continuing our weekly Penn State Wrestling prediction series by looking ahead to see what’s in store for the reigning NCAA Champ at 174, Carter Starocci
Last week we predicted a Penn State Wrestling transfer from Cornell would supplant Penn State’s All-American Michael Beard and take over the spot at 197. And my bold prediction was … well it was BOLD.
This week, we are going to look at the second NCAA champion in this ongoing series, Carter Starocci.
Can Starocci shock the wrestling world once again?
As before, this weekly series is going to focus on the following areas:
1) Biggest key to success in 2021-2022 season
2) Expectations for 2021-2022 season
3) Bold prediction for 2021-2022 season
With that, let’s dive into our predictions for Penn State Wrestling’s Carter Starocci!
Penn State Wrestling’s Carter Starocci’s key to success in 2021-2022
With each match from last year’s shortened season, I saw one common theme with Carter.
Improvement.
Do you remember what happened when Starocci took to the mat in his first Penn State dual meet match? He lost a high-scoring decision 10-9 to IU’s Donnell Washington.
Hard work, determination, expectations, aspirations, adrenaline, excitement, nerves. All mixed together for his opening match and it ended with an L.
And look, Washington is a darn good grappler. But he’s not on the same level as an NCAA champion.
So what did Carter do? He continued to put in the hours and he improved.
In his first matchup against a top 10 opponent (Michigan’s Logan Massa), he stunned the Ann Arbor crowd by claiming a 7-1 victory in TB-1.
Keep working hard, keep improving.
Then in Starocci’s very next match, he faced yet another top 10 foe, Ohio State’s Kaleb Romero. And the calm, cool, and collected Carter Starocci won that match in thrilling fashion 2-1 in TB-1.
The train kept rolling and Starocci continued to pile up the W’s on his way to reaching the B1G finals where he would face Iowa’s Michael Kemerer. But Kemerer was clearly the better wrestling as he breezed his way through a 7-2 decision to earn the B1G title at 174.
Keep working hard, keep improving.
Starocci blasted his way through the first three rounds of the NCAA’s and was then set to face his toughest matchup of the season outside of Kemerer. And standing in his way to a berth into the NCAA finals was Utah State’s Demetrius Romero.
Starocci wrestled an almost perfect match in besting the talented grappler 2-0 to punch his ticket into the finals.
Where once again, Kemerer was waiting. Just two weeks prior to the NCAA finals, Kemerer proved he was head and shoulders above Starocci on the mat.
Well, we all know what happened next.
Starocci stunned the Iowa faithful and the college wrestling world by toppling Michael Kemerer with an incredible takedown late in sudden victory to win the match and claim the NCAA title at 174.
So, what happened in those two weeks between the B1G final and the NCAA final? Did Kemerer somehow get worse as a wrestler? Did Starocci get bitten by a radioactive spider?
No.
He learned from each match he wrestled and he continued to get better each time out.
And this is still going to be his key to success in the upcoming season.
Keep working hard, keep improving.
