Carter Starocci picked up a 4-1 sudden victory exhibition win over last year’s 184-pound NCAA champion Parker Keckeisen from Northern Iowa on Saturday night in the NWCA All-Star Classic. He had the option to sit out Sunday’s opening dual meet of the season against Drexel, but that’s not exactly in Starocci’s nature.
Starocci continued what he started on Saturday night with one of four PSU technical falls against the Dragons in a 41-3 victory over the Dragons at Rec Hall.
“I think our whole team is pretty solid from start to finish,” Starocci said. “I feel like as the season goes on, we’ll keep getting better, and this is only the first one.”
The Lions rolled out what can be described as a ‘Murderers’ Row’ in the second part of their lineup, which got the four technical falls from Mitchell Mesenbrink (165), Levi Haines (174), Starocci (184), and Lucas Cochran (197). Greg Kerkvliet (285) ended the dual meet with the only fall of the afternoon.
The second half of the lineup may be more what fans can expect from the team. The first half was much closer with backups getting starts for guys that wrestled in the Classic on Saturday.
“I thought Drexel did a real nice job,” PSU coach Cael Sanderson said. “A lot of close matches coming down to the end. That’s good experience for our guys. Some of our guys haven’t had a lot of opportunities in the past. First week of the season for us. We just went out to compete and see if we can get better.”
Luke Lilledahl got a forfeit at 125 for his first college dual meet.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“We’re really excited to watch him wrestle,” Sanderson said. “I think a lot of the crowd was too. Both of their guys are injured at 125. We knew everyone would be a little disappointed. But Luke has been awesome for the program. He brings in positive energy. He’s an incredible wrestler. We’re super happy he’s in our program.”
Braeden Davis appeared to twist his knee in the first contested match of the day at 133, but he was able to continue. He had built a 6-2 lead when the injury happened in the first minute, but had to hold on for a 7-5 win.
“I think he’ll be fine,” Sanderson said. “He just kind of had to wrestle through that. We’ll take care of it and make sure he has the time he needs to get back to full speed.”
Cael Nasdeo fell in his debut to Drexel’s Jordan Soriano, 11-8, at 141 pounds before Connor Pierce (149) and Alex Facundo (157) both got decisions.
Penn State (1-0) will travel to the Army Black Knight Invitational on Sunday.
