Penn State Wrestling’s Carter Starocci wins title at 174, proves he’s the best again

Penn State Wrestling’s Carter Starocci wins his second consecutive NCAA Title by beating Virginia Tech’s Mekhi Lewis in the 174 finals

Carter Starocci’s incredible season came to an end tonight as he stood in the center of the NCAA finals mat with his hand raised, as Penn State Wrestling’s latest national champion.

Starocci’s win against VT’s Mekhi Lewis, a prior NCAA Champion at 165 in 2019, capped a perfect season and gives Starocci’s back-to-back NCAA titles at 174.

The road to any individual championship is never easy, and that can certainly be said about Carter’s 2021-2022 season. But he was able to overcame any and all adversity which was thrown in his direction and at the end of the day, he’s a champion once again.

Let’s take a look at how the match unfolded!

The opening whistle blew and both wrestlers got the action going. Lewis snagged a single leg on Starocci however Carter was able to defend it well and get the stalemate.

Following the reset the two circled the mat looking to find some openings for their offense. However neither grappler could get any takedowns and the match went to the second period tied 0-0.

Starocci started the second period in the bottom position and he was able to get the escape to lead the match 1-0. Lewis then took a committed shot on the bottom left of the mat and it appeared he got the takedown on Carter but the officials did not rule the two points.

Following a coach’s challenge the call was overturned and Lewis was awarded the two points and Carter was down 2-1.

Starocci fought out and tied the score 2-2 after the escape. The two were squared up at the center of the circle but no action ensued and the match went to the third period tied at 2-2.

Carter started the third period in the top position and Lewis cut loose to take the lead 3-2. Starocci then snagged a single leg and drove through to earn the takedown and grab the lead 4-3.

Starocci was looking for a hard ride out to finish the period but Mekhi was working hard on bottom. With 50 seconds left in the final period, Lewis slipped free and the match was tied 4-4.

However, nothing else happened and the match went to sudden victory.

And with short time left in sudden victory, Starocci tried for a shot but the time ran out.

In TB-1 Carter slipped free early for the escape and the first 30 seconds ended.

Starocci was able to ride Lewis to erase Mekhi’s riding time in TB-2 and the match finished with Carter winning his second straight NCAA title!!

The future looks very bright for Carter Starocci, especially when he’s won two NCAA titles in only his freshman year (technically). Could he become the first-ever five-time NCAA Champion?

I’m not going to even speculate that, because in collegiate wrestling you need to take it one match at a time and one year at a time.