Is Penn State star Carter Starocci wrestling at Big Tens? Here's what we know as the tournament begins
1:22 p.m. update: Carter Starocci spent :01 on the mat in his quarterfinal match and injury defaulted. He will do so again in the consolation bracket to continue healing for NCAAs. It will hurt his seed, which will fall from No. 1 to somewhere between Nos. 3-6, but he will qualify for a chance to win his fourth NCAA title.
The big question that has lingered over Penn State wrestling’s trip to the 2024 Big Ten Championships has an update. According to longtime program play-by-play announcer Jeff Byers, multi-time All-American and national champion Carter Starocci weighed in at the tournament but whether or not he competes is still up in the air. The news comes moments before the event begins with preliminary bouts at 125 pounds.
“He is making great progress,” Byers said on the Penn State Sports Network. “The knee is in better shape right now than when he walked off the mat in Rec Hall with the help of wrestlers and coaches. The progress has been significant. But whether or not he competes this weekend remains to be seen. He has lobbied strongly for the opportunity to compete this weekend. But at the end of the day, the ultimate goal is the NCAA Tournament, and that is the ultimate objective, to go out and win a fourth individual national title.
“It would seem that his best path to do that is to not really compete here and get the knee as healthy as he can for the NCAA Championships. But, we’ll wait and see with everybody else exactly what transpires. Anticipating that we may not see him wrestle here.
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Starocci is the tournament’s No. 1 seed at 174 pounds. He will face the winner of a preliminary bout between No. 8 DJ Washington (Indiana) vs. No. 9 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota). His status has been in question for the postseason since he suffered a right knee injury at the end of a technical fall win over Brody Evans of Edinboro two Sundays ago.
“He’s doing pretty good,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said Monday. “I don’t know if it’s a situation where me talking (about the specifics of it) really does a lot of good. What his plans are, they haven’t really changed. I think it’s still search and destroy, basically. It’s like a day to day thing where he’s getting better, significantly, over time. His plan is to do what he does and go compete. That’s something where we’ll have to step in there if we don’t feel like it’s in his best interest. Getting to the nationals is number one, and being at your best at nationals is number two, so whatever we have to do to help him do that is the plan.
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“We trust our trainer, Dan Monthley, and our doctors and as we’ve said, Carter’s a competitor and he’ll be good to go. I think he’s doing good. The first day was tough for him because we didn’t really know where he was and he was in a lot of pain. Usually, that’s a good thing. If you know knees and injuries and stuff, if there’s no pain that’s usually more of a concern because that means something’s no longer there. He’s doing good.”
Penn State has five No. 1 seeds at Big Tens. Besides Starocci, Beau Bartlett (141 pounds), Levi Haines (157), Aaron Brooks (197), and Greg Kerkvliet (285) are all on the top line of their respect weight class’ bracket. The team has a total of six first round byes, as Mitchell Mesenbrink is the No. 2 seed at 125 pounds.
[Starocci] does need to step on the mat and wrestle at least one second,” Byers said. “But by weighing in and wrestling one second, because of his resume, he would be assured of an at-large bid. That seems like the most likely scenario to play out. But he has been doing everything he can to get himself ready and convince everybody within the Penn State wrestling staff that he can go. But the medical staff, in consultation with the coaching staff, will decide that.”
How to follow the Big Ten Championships
The Big Ten tournament will be a mixture of live television coverage and streaming. Penn State matches will be part of Big Ten Network’s over-the-air coverage of sessions one, three, and five. BTN+ will stream matside coverage for all sessions. It is also the exclusive home to watch sessions two and four.
The Penn State Sports Network will be on the air with the prematch show at 9:45 p.m. Longtime broadcaster Jeff Byers will be on the call. ET. Click here to access the free LionVision feed.
You can also follow along live and chat with other Penn State wrestling fans on Blue-White Illustrated’s The Wrestling Room forum. Access it by clicking here for live updates.
