Penn State wrestling’s Carter Starocci, Bellefonte grad Jude Swisher earn bids for NCAAs
Penn State’s Carter Starocci posted a rather cryptic social media post after the first day of the Big Ten Wrestling Championships were over on Saturday.
“Looking forward to a new chapter. Thank you Penn State forever,” the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, read.
It put Nittany Lions’ fans and the college wrestling scene into a whirlwind over what Starocci, who injury-defaulted at the Big Ten Championships, could mean. But Monday saw the three-time NCAA champion respond: “Big ten title is cool but NCAA title is cooler. Next chapter: Kansas City.”
On Tuesday, the NCAA released its total 330 qualifiers for next week’s championships in Kansas City, Mo., with Starocci being one of 11 Big Ten wrestlers to receive at-large bids.
With the 11 at-large bids, the Big Ten has 96 of the 330 qualifiers, which just goes to show the conference’s dominance on the sport.
Penn State will have all 10 of its wrestlers at the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2013. After coming off a Big Ten tournament that saw the Nittany Lions tally 170.5 points without Starocci, it makes fans wonder if they’ll top the NCAA team record.
The mark is 170 points, which was set by Iowa in the 1997 NCAA Championships. The Hawkeyes had six finalists with five earning titles as part of their eight All-Americans.
Starocci wasn’t the only wrestler with ties to Centre County that earned an at-large bid.
Bellefonte graduate Jude Swisher, who competes for Penn, also got a spot at 149 pounds. The sophomore finished fifth in last weekend’s Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships, which was one shy of an automatic spot.
“I’m so incredibly grateful for this opportunity, especially coming off of a difficult weekend at EIWAs,” Swisher said Tuesday. “Going in, I was believing I was going to be a conference champion, auto qualifying for nationals and getting a good seed at the tournament, and having to really grapple with the idea that I might not even qualify for the tournament. It’s been a challenging last couple of days. Honestly, I was just holding onto the goal with open hands, and understanding that it is completely out of my hands. Any opportunity I now receive is truly a gift. I’m doing my best to give thanks to God for this wonderful opportunity to do what I love.”
Swisher split time this year between 149 and 157 pounds, and amassed a 23-8 record.
Swisher’s teammate Cole Urbas, who is a State College graduate, along with Penns Valley graduate Malachi DuVall, who competes for George Mason, will join him. That gives Centre County three NCAA wrestlers for a second straight year.
DuVall won a Mid-American Conference title last weekend at 184 pounds. Urbas finished fifth as well.
“Centre County wrestling has continued to produce high level of talent,” Swisher said. “It’s really cool to see the community around the juggernaut of Penn State wrestling continue to provide great opportunities for training and competition to the local kids in the area. It makes sense those kids would go on to achieve great things on the next level. Obviously, Cole is my teammate, I know Malachi pretty well, trained with him growing up. I know those kids are hardworking and were pushed really hard at a high level through youth, middle school and high school wrestling.
“It’s pretty cool that the three of us get to now go to the big stage and have this really cool experience.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2024 at 7:30 PM.
