College wrestling history was never listed as an opponent on Penn State’s schedule this season.

Carter Starocci’s braced right knee might not be 100 percent this week.

The seeds and bracket path didn’t matter much to Carter Starocci in his pursuit of a fourth NCAA title.

Carter Starocci dug himself out of an early deficit Thursday and then cruised to his first victory in 26 days.

Carter Starocci walked into Rec Hall on Wednesday and stopped for a crowd of reporters waiting for him. The Nittany Lion senior, already sweaty from a pre-practice workout, grinned and stepped into the middle of the group.

The PIAA Wrestling Championships return to FloWrestling March 7-9 LIVE from the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. All bouts will be streamed live starting with AA on Thursday morning at 9 am EST. AAA gets underway at 4 pm Thursday afternoon. This four-part series will preview each bracket for lightweights (107-145) and heavyweights (152-285) on both the AA and AAA sides. AA release will be followed by AAA. Check into the event hub for all written and video content. Interactive brackets will be live on FloArena.

Winning a PIAA State Wrestling Championship as a freshman is a rare feat. In fact, there have only been 53 freshmen win PIAA titles in the 85 years of the championships. However, there has been a recent surge in freshman champions. There are many factors at play, but the coaching available at the club level prior to high school has allowed more freshmen to be ready to compete at a high level than ever before. The 2010’s produced more than twice the amount of freshman champions from any previous decade in history. The 2020’s are continuing that pace with ten freshmen earning titles in the first four championships of the new decade.

The PIAA Wrestling Championships return to FloWrestling March 7-9 LIVE from the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. All bouts will be streamed live starting with AA on Thursday morning at 9 am EST. AAA gets underway at 4 pm Thursday afternoon. This four-part series will preview each bracket for lightweights (107-145) and heavyweights (152-285) on both the AA and AAA sides. AA release will be followed by AAA. Check into the event hub for all written and video content. Interactive brackets will be live on FloArena.

The PIAA Wrestling Championships return to FloWrestling March 7-9 LIVE from the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. All bouts will be streamed live starting with AA on Thursday morning at 9 am EST. AAA gets underway at 4 pm Thursday afternoon. This four-part series will preview each bracket for lightweights (107-145) and heavyweights (152-285) on both the AA and AAA sides. AA release will be followed by AAA. Check into the event hub for all written and video content. Interactive brackets will be live on FloArena.

The PIAA Wrestling Championships return to FloWrestling March 7-9 LIVE from the Giant Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. All bouts will be streamed live starting with AA on Thursday morning at 9 am EST. AAA gets underway at 4 pm Thursday afternoon. This four-part series will preview each bracket for lightweights (107-145) and heavyweights (152-285) on both the AA and AAA side. AA release will be followed by AAA. Check into the event hub for all written and video content. Interactive brackets will be live on FloArena.

Carter Starocci already won a national championship with a broken hand. Now he’ll try to win one with an injured leg.

Terrell Barraclough probably isn’t going to wrestle for a national championship this year, but the Penn State middleweight knows he could push anyone in the country if called on.

It hasn’t taken Mitchell Mesenbrink long to ingratiate himself to his new teammates and coaches at Penn State.

In the days after Shayne Van Ness suffered a season-ending injury in practice, his coaches were left feeling empty and were haunted by what-ifs.

Critics can make the case for which of the NWCA All-Star matches might stand out next Tuesday at Penn State’s Rec Hall, such as the Noto-Ramos (125) or Starocci-Lewis (174) or even the Van Ness-Parco (149) bouts. But the 157-pound Haines-Teemer match has immeasurable entertainment potential.