Carter Starocci Rolls To Win In First Match At NCAA Wrestling Tournament
Carter Starocci Rolls To Win In First Match At NCAA Wrestling Tournament
In his first full match in 26 days, three-time NCAA champ Carter Starocci gave up an early takedown before cruising to a 12-6 win against Andrew Sparks.
Carter Starocci dug himself out of an early deficit Thursday and then cruised to his first victory in 26 days.
Wrestling with a heavy brace on the right knee he injured Feb. 25 in his final match of the regular season, the three-time national champ from Penn State spotted Minnesota’s Andrew Sparks an early takedown and then rolled to a 12-6 win at 174 pounds in the opening round of the NCAA Championships.
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Starocci carried a 64-match winning streak into the postseason but that string ended in the opening round of the Big Ten Championships when he injury defaulted and later medical forfeited out of the tournament. Those defeats dropped the Penn State star to the #9 seed at the national tournament.
Starocci’s status in his pursuit of a fourth national title became one of the tournament’s top storylines entering Kansas City. He insisted Wednesday during the pre-tournament news conference that he was "100 percent."
He surrendered a rare takedown early in his opening round bout when Sparks passed a leg off a Starocci shot, latched on to the Penn State senior’s braced right leg and finished a takedown to go up 3-0.
But Starocci quickly escaped, got back in again and took Sparks to his back to grab a commanding 8-3 lead at the end of the first period. He tacked on another takedown in the second period.
The win sets Starocci up for a second-round bout against #8 seed Adam Kemp of Cal Poly. Kemp opened the tournament with a 4-3 win against Oklahoma State’s Brayden Thompson.
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NCAA Wrestling Championships 2024 Brackets
NCAA Wrestling Tournament 2024 Schedule
The 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championship will be held at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri from March 21-23.
Complete schedule
ROUND DAY DATE TIME (ET) NETWORK
- Session 1 - Championship First Round Thursday March 21 12pm ESPNU/ESPN+
- Session 2 - Championship Second Round + Consolations Thursday March 21 7pm ESPN/ESPN+
- Session 3 - Championships Quarterfinals + Consolations Friday March 22 12pm ESPNU/ESPN+
- Session 4 - Championship Semifinals + Blood Round Friday March 22 8pm ESPN/ESPN+
- Session 5 - Medal Round Saturday March 23 11am ESPNU/ESPN+
- Session 6 - Championship Finals Saturday March 23 7pm ESPN/ESPN+
Where Are The NCAA Wrestling Championships 2024
The 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championship will be held at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri from March 21-23.
The 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Wells Fargo Center while the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships are set for Cleveland, Ohio at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
NCAA Wrestling Championships 2024 At Large Bids
WEIGHT TEAM FIRST NAME LAST NAME CONFERENCE
- 125 California Baptist Elijah Griffin Big 12
- 125 Oregon State Brandon Kaylor Pac 12
- 125 Rider Tyler Klinsky MAC
- 125 Ohio State Brendan McCrone Big Ten
- 125 Northern Colorado Stevo Poulin Big 12
- 125 Harvard Diego Sotelo EIWA
- 133 Ohio State Nic Bouzakis Big Ten
- 133 Pennsylvania Michael Colaiocco EIWA
- 133 Northern Iowa Julian Farber Big 12
- 133 Missouri Kade Moore Big 12
- 133 Minnesota Tyler Wells Big Ten
- 141 Gardner-Webb Todd Carter SoCon
- 141 Cornell Vince Cornella EIWA
- 141 Virginia Tech Tom Crook ACC
- 141 Maryland Kal Miller Big Ten
- 141 Columbia Kai Owen EIWA
- 141 West Virginia Jordan Titus Big 12
- 149 Rutgers Michael Cetta Big Ten
- 149 South Dakota State Alek Martin Big 12
- 149 Pittsburgh Finn Solomon ACC
- 149 Pennsylvania Jude Swisher EIWA
- 157 Virginia Tech Bryce Andonian ACC
- 157 Little Rock Matty Bianchi Pac 12
- 157 Minnesota Michael Blockhus Big Ten
- 157 Northern Colorado Vinny Zerban Big 12
- 165 NC State Derek Fields ACC
- 165 Michigan State Caleb Fish Big Ten
- 165 Pittsburgh Holden Heller ACC
- 165 Bucknell Noah Mulvaney EIWA
- 165 Ohio Garrett Thompson MAC
- 174 Pittsburgh Luca Augustine ACC
- 174 Northern Iowa Jared Simma Big 12
- 174 Penn State Carter Starocci Big Ten
- 174 Navy Danny Wask EIWA
- 184 Gardner-Webb Jha`Quan Anderson SoCon
- 184 Iowa State Will Feldkamp Big 12
- 184 Pennsylvania Maximus Hale EIWA
- 184 Campbell Caleb Hopkins SoCon
- 184 Arizona State Tony Negron Pac 12
- 197 Northwestern Evan Bates Big Ten
- 197 Utah Valley Evan Bockman Big 12
- 197 Franklin & Marshall John Crawford EIWA
- 197 Virginia Tech Andy Smith ACC
- 285 Maryland Seth Nevills Big Ten
- 285 Pittsburgh Dayton Pitzer ACC
- 285 Minnesota Bennett Tabor Big Ten
- 285 Cal Poly Trevor Tink Pac-12
NCAA Division 1 Wrestling Rankings
The updated NCAA D1 Wrestling rankings can be found HERE.
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