2021 NCAA Champion Carter Starocci (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com; Graphic/Anna-Lee Marie)
Welcome to a new recurring feature from InterMat as we lead into the 2021-22 collegiate season. We are about 50 days away from the start of the new season, so what better way to ring in the new year than to use that time to count down the top-50 current collegiate wrestlers. Each day a new wrestler will be released.
These rankings have been compiled by members of the InterMat staff and used a combination of collegiate achievements, with 2021 accomplishments carrying more weight than past years, along with win-loss records and notable wins. While we are counting down the top-50 wrestlers based primarily on collegiate accomplishments, it is impossible to totally ignore achievements in the international settings, so they did factor in slightly, too.
Before getting to the next wrestler on the list, look at the wrestlers previously profiled:
#50 - Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)
#49 - Ben Darmstadt (Cornell)
#48 - Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)
#47 - Kaleb Young (Iowa)
#46 - Rocky Elam (Missouri)
#45 - Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska)
#44 - Brandon Courtney (Arizona State)
#43 - Brock Mauller (Missouri)
#42 - Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State)
#41 - John Poznanski (Rutgers)
#40 - Brayton Lee (Minnesota)
#39 - Travis Wittlake (Oklahoma State)
#38 - Parker Keckeisen (Northern Iowa)
#37 - Tariq Wilson (NC State)
#36 - Jacob Warner (Iowa)
#35 - Jacori Teemer (Arizona State)
#34 - Tony Cassioppi (Iowa)
#33 - Vito Arujau (Cornell)
#32 - Patrick Glory (Princeton)
#31 - Max Dean (Penn State)
#30 - Keegan O'Toole (Missouri)
#29 - Mike Labriola (Nebraska)
#28 - Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh)
#27 - Austin DeSanto (Iowa)
#26 - Jake Wentzel (Pittsburgh)
#25 - Evan Wick (Cal Poly)
#24 - Alex Marinelli (Iowa)
#23 - Ryan Deakin (Northwestern)
#22 - Sebastian Rivera (Rutgers)
#21 - Sammy Sasso (Ohio State)
#20 - Trent Hidlay (NC State)
#19 - Stevan Micic (Michigan)
#18 - Hayden Hidlay (NC State)
#17 - Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech)
#16 - Michael Kemerer (Iowa)
#15 - Mason Parris (Michigan)
#14 - Shane Griffith (Stanford)
#13 - AJ Ferrari (Oklahoma State)
Next up is…
#12 Carter Starocci (Penn State)
Weight: 174 lbs
Year: Freshman
Career Record: 14-2
Hometown: Erie, Pennsylvania
College Accomplishments: 2021 NCAA Champion, 2021 Big Ten Runner-Up
2021-22 Preseason Ranking: #1 at 174 lbs
The Penn State recruiting Class of 2019 was a small group, but looks great on paper because of the signing of Carter Starocci, a top-ten recruit and the top 174 lb prospect among high school seniors. With national champion Mark Hall handling the 174 lb weight class in the Nittany Lion lineup, Starocci was allowed to redshirt during his initial year in State College.
Even though Starocci wasn't in the Penn State lineup, he still saw plenty of action during the 2019-20 campaign. Starocci went undefeated and captured titles at the Clarion Open, the Patriot Open, the Southern Scuffle, and the Edinboro Open.
Of course, the most prestigious of the bunch was the Scuffle, where he notched wins over the eventual SoCon champion (Neal Richards - VMI) and the eventual EIWA finalist (Spencer Carey - Navy) to claim his title. At the Scuffle, Starocci's closest bout was an 11-5 win over Pittsburgh's Gregg Harvey.
A constant during Starocci's redshirt season was his ability to light up the scoreboard and rack up bonus points. He got to bonus-point territory in more than 63% of his 19 victories.
With Hall out of the picture in 2020-21, the spot at 174 was Starocci's for the taking. Unfortunately, his Nittany Lion debut didn't go as planned. In a dual against Indiana, Starocci was put on his back by Donnell Washington and trailed 6-0 less than a minute into the bout. He battled back but ultimately lost 10-9.
After a couple of lopsided wins, Starocci went into the toughest stretch of his dual season with matches against Logan Massa (Michigan) and Kaleb Romero (Ohio State) in back-to-back outings. In both contests, Starocci had to dig deep and edged the veterans in tiebreakers.
At the Big Ten Championships, Starocci would meet Romero again and again prevailed in a low-scoring affair, 2-0. He made the finals after taking down returning All-American Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) in sudden victory. Starocci's run would come to an end in the tournament's final against Michael Kemerer (Iowa), who prevailed with a 7-2 win.
The second-place finish and a win over Labriola helped the Nittany Lion freshman net the third seed at his first NCAA Tournament. In the opening round, Starocci was able to grab a bonus point in his 10-2 win over Vic Marcelli (Virginia); however, he had to fight and scrap with close bouts throughout the balance of the tournament.
For a place in the finals, Starocci pulled the ever-so-slight upset and handed #2 Demetrius Romero (Utah Valley) his first loss of the 2021 campaign, 2-0. That set the stage for a rematch of the Big Ten finals with Kemerer on the raised mat in St. Louis.
Starocci was able to slow down the high-paced Kemerer and the Hawkeye was never able to get to his offense. Through the first seven minutes of the bout, the two traded escape points and they accounted for the only scoring in regulation. Early in the sudden victory period, Starocci got to a double leg and fought for the finish and the national title.
Just over a month ago, Starocci was in action at the World Team Trials at 79 kg. He had a remarkable run that resulted in a third-place finish after wins over Evan Wick, Chance Marsteller, and Jason Nolf.
Strengths: Starocci has excellent footwork and moves well for his weight class. He had a solid head/hands defense which rarely allows opponents to get to his legs. Offensively, Starocci's best weapon is a double leg. Most of the time, he goes directly for it, but other times he switches to it after a single leg. Starocci also scores with a sweep single. On the mat, Starocci ends up getting riding time with a majority of his competition. He actively looks for wrists and ankles to neutralize and can get a tilt if the situation presents itself. As alluded to earlier, his matwork and overall ability to pull out close wins against more seasoned competition, bodes well for his future.
2021-22 Outlook: With his national title, Starocci enters the season as the favorite and the top-ranked 174 lber in the land. He'll likely have to face Kemerer two or three more times this season to repeat as champion. In addition to the 2021 All-Americans, the 174 lb weight class got a boost from the ACC as former national finalists Mekhi Lewis (Virginia Tech) and Hayden Hidlay (NC State) are slated to move up.
2021 NCAA Champion Carter Starocci (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)
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