Carter Starocci, maybe the most feared wrestler in the country, could barely get off the mat.
It was the end of his final, celebratory Penn State wrestling victory at Rec Hall, the rousing send-off to begin paving his grandiose run through the most important tournaments of his life.
Instead, Starocci turned awkwardly at the end of the match and clutched his knee in pain. The man riding the nation’s top win streak needed help just to stand and limp away.
The worries were immediate: How could he possibly conquer a serious-looking injury, in short-order, to survive this weekend’s brutal Big Ten Championships, then the NCAA tournament, then those Olympic Trials?
A cruel and yet, in a way, an almost expected kind of complication for this wrestler.
Starocci, those close to him say, has rarely enjoyed full and complete wrestling health since the ninth grade. It’s been a building firestorm of circumstances that’s fueled the senior from Erie, Pa., especially to where he’s reaching now:
To become one of the only college wrestlers ever to win his fourth individual national title. (Remarkably enough, teammate Aaron Brooks could join him at those NCAA Championships in two weeks in Kansas City).
For Starocci, the bad knee may just be the latest seemingly blocked road to stunningly open …
“I think he’s got a huge heart,” said Mike Hahesy, his high school coach at Erie Cathedral Prep. “He’s mentally and physically tough; tougher than the average kid.
“It’s made him create other ways to win, other ways to win and overcome. You overcome and you adapt.”
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