Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1518105
A P R I L 2 0 2 4 47 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M Two wrestlers with similar talents and dissimi- lar personalities took starkly different routes into Penn State — and NCAA — wrestling his- tory this year. Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks became four-time national champions at the NCAA Tournament March 21-23 in Kansas City. It's a feat that only five wrestlers — one of whom is their coach — were able to accomplish prior to this year, and it marked the first time that one team put a pair of four-timers in the books in the same tournament. And while the accomplishment was the same for these two multitalented stars, their paths to postseason glory this year were incredibly different. Each has been around the program for five years … five highly successful years. Brooks is highly faithful and beams when he expresses his devotion. He would be in the category of someone you would want your daughter to bring home. The Hagerstown, Md., native may be the most technically sound wrestler the sport has seen in some time. He's not alone in that category, but there aren't too many who share the ability that he has from wrestling's neutral position. Name a takedown method, and he'll execute it perfectly. And while in recent years Penn State hasn't very often needed bonus points to win once the 197-pound weight class rolled around, Brooks would earn them regardless. He won two matches by fall and two by technical fall on his way to the NCAA finals this season. Once there, he defeated someone who has turned into an annual foe, Trent Hidlay of NC State. Entering the match, Brooks had defeated Hidlay in the three previous NCAA Championships, causing the Wolfpack wrestler to say in Kansas City that you can't call his relationship with Brooks a ri- valry because he's never beaten him. Brooks won again, 6-1, earning his fourth title and joining Starocci, Penn State coach Cael Sanderson, Pat Smith, Kyle Dake, Logan Stieber and Yianni Diakomihalis in the elite club of four- time NCAA champions. "Praise the Lord, man. Being able to be pres- ent tonight is a gift," Brooks said. "It's just spe- cial, my family and friends being here. I'm just very blessed that this night played out as it did. It was fun." It was also fun, he said, to be on the same career track as Starocci. "Looking back when we first came in, just seeing the growth of both of us and having someone else to be part of that journey was a lot of fun," Brooks said. Starocci also doesn't mind expressing his faith, and he is expressive in many other ways as well. He wrestles with an edge and speaks with an attitude, but there is a sincerity to it — he means what he boasts on social media and has proven he can back it up. Injuries, though, can humble you … or in Starocci's case, at least slow you down. The right knee that was twisted in his Feb. 25 match against Edinboro also put a twist in his postsea- son trajectory. The injury ruined his chance to extend a 64-bout winning streak — then the nation's longest and now owned by Brooks at 35 — and put his chance at winning four NCAA titles in jeopardy. By now, everyone knows that didn't happen. Doctors and the team's trainer, Dan Monthley, went to work on Starocci. Sanderson heaped praise on Monthley. When Starocci came off the mat after winning his fourth crown, he bear-hugged coaches Cael and Cody Sanderson and Casey Cunningham and soon after clasped one of Monthley's hands and raised their arms together in victory. Sanderson said there aren't many people on the planet who could do what Starocci did. Starocci also credited teammate Connor Pierce, a Harborcreek High School grad who, like Starocci, is from the Erie area in northwest- ern Pennsylvania. He said Pierce basically lived with him for nearly two weeks, helping him in every way necessary to get him back on his feet even when he was spending very little time on the mat. As Sanderson pointed out, Starocci did what he needed to do to win the tournament. Be- cause he didn't meet NCAA seeding require- ments due to too few matches, the three-time champ was seeded ninth. That meant he would have to face — and defeat — two former NCAA champs just to get to the final round. He decisioned his first two foes, shut out Virginia Tech NCAA champ Mekhi Lewis, 4-0, in the quarterfinals and blanked former Stanford NCAA titlist Shane Griffith, now with Michigan, 2-0, before shutting down freshman stud Rocco Welsh of Ohio State, 2-0, in the final. "It was fun seeing that I can overcome this ad- versity," Starocci said. "I think that's just a testa- ment to how I was brought up — my family, my parents just always being tough and expecting nothing but excellence and always doing better. I think that's just a testament to that." Brooks is out of college eligibility, while Starocci actually could become the sport's only five-time champion because of an extra year due to COVID-19. He has expressed doubt that it will happen, so Penn State most likely will be looking to fill holes at 174 and 197 pounds in its lineup. Nearly 10 years ago, fans said the team never would be able to replace David Taylor and Ed Ruth, and then it was Jason Nolf and Bo Nickal. Now it will be Starocci and Brooks. They will be replaced, and the time they had, the memories they shared and history they made may someday be equaled but will never be surpassed. — Jim Carlson Injured in Penn State's regular-season finale against Edinboro, Carter Starocci competed at nationals with his right leg encased in a heavy brace but still claimed his fourth national championship. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS For Brooks And Starocci, All Paths Lead To The Summit