Chris Starocci saw the look on his son’s face in late February as fans inside Penn State’s Rec Hall quickly went from gleeful to panicked.
Carter Starocci, one of head coach Cael Sanderson’s most prolific wrestlers in a long line of great ones, was down on the mat, writhing in pain as he grabbed his right knee. The crowd fell silent. What was supposed to be a celebratory sendoff for the 174-pounder on senior day would instead become another hurdle to clear in the fascinating collegiate career of Penn State’s first four-time NCAA champion.
“It definitely wasn’t looking good,” Chris said. “I tried to hold it together as best as possible for him because I saw how devastated he was. … I was just hoping that whatever it was he’d be able to overcome it. If he was gonna give it a go or if his season was gonna be over, I just wanted him to have the strength to fight.”
Starocci suffered what those close to him say was certainly the most significant injury of his career. He won his second NCAA title in 2022 with a broken hand, but that paled in comparison to trying to wrestle with an undisclosed knee injury. The bulky brace and wrap at the NCAA championships made it obvious that Carter wasn’t himself. Commentator and 2012 Olympic gold medalist Jordan Burroughs even suggested that opponents should try to attack Starocci’s leg, which didn’t sit well with many, including Starocci’s former teammate Bo Nickal.
Starocci was asked last month in Kansas City, minutes after winning his fourth NCAA title, if he did so while competing with a torn ACL. He quickly and confidently replied, “No comment.”
“After my freshman year, after I won (my first NCAA title), I went in the office of Coach Cael, and he said this first one’s going to be your easiest one,” Starocci recalled. “I looked at him like, ‘I don’t know about that.’ I plan on getting better and making this thing easier. But sure enough, now looking back on it, I would say each one has their own challenges.”
Starocci’s celebration, where he raised team trainer Dan Monthley’s hand immediately after winning, was a reminder of all that transpired behind the scenes as Carter rehabbed around the clock for what might’ve been his final appearance in college.
This man revived me and my dreams . Forever owe this man. I believed in you every step of the way. To one of my best friends. Thank you ! ❤️💪🏽 https://t.co/ZSDfNcaW0s
— Carter Starocci (@carterstarocci) March 25, 2024
Starocci does have an extra year of eligibility should he want to chase a fifth NCAA title, but for now, his sights are still set on wrestling at the U.S. Olympic Trials in State College, Pa., on April 19 and 20. He’s been eyeing the Olympics for a long time — more so than even that fourth NCAA title. He plans to compete in the 74 kg (163 pounds) weight class, in which 2020 Olympic bronze medalist Kyle Dake, former Penn State three-time NCAA champion Jason Nolf and Burroughs are among the contenders.
“It’s just bad timing for the whole thing,” Chris Starocci said, “but he’s in a position where he wants to do something, and he doesn’t like being told what to do.”
The four-week turnaround from NCAAs to the trials is far from ideal for collegiate wrestlers, let alone one dealing with a knee injury. Starocci will have to seek permission from USA Wrestling’s tournament medical coordinator to compete wearing a knee brace. Should it not be approved, he would have to resort to an alternative like heavy taping. Getting as comfortable as possible while wrestling through this injury hasn’t been easy.
“It took a village,” Chris said. “Leading up to NCAAs, he didn’t even practice. Practicing was out. Then, you start thinking in your mind, ‘OK, now making weight is going to be an issue because he’s not practicing, he’s not sweating. His conditioning is going to be an issue, so if he gets into a tight match and guys are going at it giving everything they got, is his conditioning going to fail because he’s not working out?’”
In the lead-up to the NCAA championships, Chris sent his son scouting reports, as he’s done since Carter was a boy. Little details, like if potential opponents are left- or right-hand dominant, should be considered, Chris said. Once Carter decided that he was wrestling at NCAAs no matter what, Chris reminded Carter that he needed to do all he could to stay two steps ahead because of the injury.
He’d have to retrain his mind to avoid going to certain positions that when healthy feel natural. Getting caught in one funky position and being unable to respond like usual could be costly for a title defense. This same reprogramming won’t be any easier at the trials.
“NCAA titles, all that stuff comes and goes,” Carter said last month. “I just truly enjoy just beating on guys. I can’t do this forever, so as I’m doing it, I want to make sure I take everybody out and do it again and again. That’s what’s fun for me.”
What Starocci did that weekend in Kansas City as he stormed through the bracket with an at-large bid, seeded ninth after being held out of the Big Ten championship because of the injury, will go down in Penn State history as one of the most impressive performances in any sport. Nine days before becoming the sixth wrestler all-time to win four individual NCAA titles — Penn State teammate and fellow Olympic hopeful Aaron Brooks would join him in the exclusive club, the first pair of teammates to ever be four-time champions — Starocci said he wasn’t even walking.
At last month’s NCAA championships, with a bulky brace on his right leg, Penn State’s Carter Starocci still marched his way to a fourth straight title. (Nick Tre. Smith / USA Today)
Chris, like every other wrestling fan in T-Mobile Center that weekend, said he showed up unsure how Carter would perform. He hoped that mentally the injury wouldn’t bog down his mind. He even wondered how much sleep Carter had gotten in the previous weeks because he had been so dedicated to rehabbing. Carter said he weighed in a little heavier than he wanted ahead of the final session but had Sanderson sweating alongside him as he rode the bike.
What Chris did know about his son is that once Carter was on the mat, he wouldn’t be an easy out. Even if the Olympics were still the main goal — and Carter said he told doctors as much — he wasn’t going to bow out of NCAAs.
Even after the coaching staff held him out of the Big Ten tournament, Starocci took to X to fire off his anger with the decision. In 2023, during the chase for his third NCAA title, he said he didn’t just want to win but wanted to do so while “taking souls” of those he beat.
“He’s a tough kid,” Sanderson said this season. “He’s always been a ferocious competitor. And even when he, you know, didn’t wrestle well, maybe he was sick or maybe he just didn’t manage his weight right or sometimes you just aren’t the best that day, he still gives a great effort. He’s a very, very special competitor.”
There’s also the unwavering belief in himself — whether with one good leg or two — that could’ve, probably should’ve, been shaken headed into NCAAs. It wasn’t. Instead, Starocci publicly vowed ahead of the tournament that this was his weight class and he wanted to take out everyone in the bracket. He did just that and even dispatched two NCAA champs along the way — bouncing Virginia Tech’s Mekhi Lewis and Michigan’s Shane Griffith in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively — before taking down Ohio State’s Rocco Welsh in the championship match.
Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. Sign up
Free, daily sports updates direct to your inbox. Sign up
Buy
Back home in Erie, Pa., Chris would tell all his kids growing up that, when they won anything, they were champions for a day. While most freshmen in high school would’ve been content finishing in eighth place at the ultra-competitive PIAA state wrestling tournament, Carter did so and immediately holed up in his bedroom for more than a month.
He had minimal communication with his family during that span. He would come home from school and head to his room. Chris worried about his son’s mental health until one day Carter came out of the room and had mapped out several changes. He was quitting football — which until then was his top sport, Chris said — and was committing himself to being the best wrestler.
“He told me what foods to buy, what kind of practice schedule he wanted to do,” Chris said. “He said, ‘Stop buying this stuff, stop buying that stuff. This is the stuff I need you to have in the house, Dad, and if you can’t do it, I’ll go live with somebody else.’”
The football coach called and asked if Carter would reconsider. It wasn’t up for discussion. Pizza, wings, Doritos, cakes, sweets and occasional fast food would have to go. He’d eat better meals and organic foods. Chris, with the exception of hiding occasional treats from his son, would also eat better to help Carter with his plan. He’d finish as a state runner-up as a sophomore before winning titles in his junior and senior years.
“I think we gotta take him for his word when he says he doesn’t do this for championships and titles,” Chris said. “He does it to know that there isn’t another man that can beat him, and I think that’s what motivates him. I think, in his mind, when he takes somebody out he expects that, he’s proud of that, and then he’s on to the next one.”
In this case, the next challenge will be as grueling as they come. Between cutting 11 pounds and wrestling against the best in the nation while not at full health, it’ll be a long shot to try and pull off an Olympic berth.
But Starocci isn’t wired to think this way and never has been. It’s why Chris is certain Carter is again dialed in, busy mapping out the most important wrestling plan of his career.
GO DEEPER
Recruiting a dynasty: How Penn State and Cael Sanderson build ‘the best room in the world’
(Top photo of Carter Starocci after winning his fourth straight NCAA title: Reese Strickland / USA Today)
