Can Penn State's injured Carter Starocci still make NCAA title run? Here are the ways ...
Intrigue surrounds Penn State star wrestler Carter Starocci at this weekend's Big Ten Championships.
Will the injured No. 1 seed at 174 pounds — arguably the top performer at any weight in the nation — actually wrestle?
It's a potentially dicey dilemma with multiple options for the senior who's striving for a rare fourth individual national title later this month.
To be eligible for those NCAA Championships — and the chance to win his fourth title with teammate Aaron Brooks — Starocci must decide his path Saturday and Sunday at the Big Ten Tournament in College Park, Maryland.
His status is complicated because of the undisclosed knee injury suffered at the end of his final career home match on Feb. 25 against Edinboro. He had to be helped from the mat.
Starocci owns three main wrestling options this weekend. He must weigh-in properly in each scenario:
Carter Starocci wrestles initial Big Ten Championships match
Starocci could wrestle part of the tournament as a "test."
He would attempt his opening quarterfinals match against a big underdog opponent, such as the winner of the No. 8-9 match with Indiana's DJ Washington and Minnesota's Andrew Sparks.
The strategy would be to conceivably win this opener handily while being able to protect his knee. A victory also would enhance his NCAA Championships seeding, providing a potentially more favorable path to that fourth title.
After that one Saturday match, he could medically forfeit from the rest of the tournament. Though he'd be assessed his first loss of the season, he would eliminate potentially punishing semifinal and championship matches — and greater risk to his knee.
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Penn State's Jason Nolf took a similar path six years ago after injuring his knee during a January dual meet. He didn't wrestle again until the Big Ten Championships, where he easily won his opening two matches before medically forfeiting the remainder of the tournament.
Nolf went on to win his third national title two weeks later.
With Starocci, "It's like a day-to-day thing where he's getting better, significantly, over time," Penn State coach Cael Sanderson told reporters Monday in State College.
"So his plan is to do what he does and go compete. That's something where we'll have to kind of step in there if we don't feel like it's in his best interests. Obviously getting to nationals is No. 1, then being at your best at nationals is No. 2. So what we have to do is help him do that. That is the plan."
Penn State wrestling: Carter Starocci "skips" Big Ten Championships
Starocci and his Penn State coaches and trainer may decide that another two weeks of rest and rehabilitation are most valuable.
That a Big Ten title and his nation's-best 64-match win streak isn't worth the risk of injuring his knee further.
Starocci can choose to medically forfeit his opening two matches and not wrestle at all in the tournament.
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He would be assessed one loss, giving him a 12-1 season record.
He also would lose an advantageous high seed at the NCAA Championships and would qualify with an at-large bid at 174 pounds.
Carter Starocci: Wrestle the entire Big Ten Championships
A true champion can adapt to anything. You can either run from your adversity or face it head on and conquer it. There’s only one way in and one way out and I’m going that way. This game teaches you a lot and one thing I learned for sure is my mind is absolutely bullet proof . pic.twitter.com/vZf5c4Swsd
— Carter Starocci (@carterstarocci) March 2, 2024
As a regular conqueror of illness and injury, Starocci could decide to attempt wrestling through the entire tournament with the injury, no matter the effect.
He did, after all, win his second NCAA Championship in 2022 with a broken hand.
He hinted at an all-in approach in a recent social media post on X (formerly known as Twitter):
He wrote that, "A true champion can adapt to anything. You can either run from your adversity or face it head on and conquer it. There’s only one way in and one way out and I’m going that way. This game teaches you a lot and one thing I learned for sure is my mind is absolutely bullet proof."
Frank Bodani covers Penn State football for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: How Penn State wrestler Carter Starocci can make NCAA Championships
