2023 NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP

March 17, 2023

Carter Starocci

BOK Center

Penn State

Semifinals Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: Carter, congratulations. Carter Starocci, Penn State finalist at 174. Carter, congratulations again, initial thoughts and emotions becoming a finalist this year?

CARTER STAROCCI: Yeah. That's not the goal. Obviously, there is no emotion really. I'm excited for my teammates. Watching Levi do his thing gets me fired up in the back. I feel like running through a steel wall watching him wrestle. And Aaron is next and Greg and Max just won. So I'm excited for those guys and just trying to control my emotions even through their matches as well.

Q. Congratulations. Penn State has three finalists now, potentially two more. And like you said, Levi won as well, a true freshman. What's it about this program where you guys seem to turn it up in the postseason? Right now the team leads in your favor?

CARTER STAROCCI: Yeah. I don't know. I think our coaches and the guys around us, just, like, having guys like Gilman and David Taylor and Kyle Dake, and we have all types of guys in our room, and they give us good advice. And having those guys to lean on and around us, our teammates, that brings in confidence in and of itself.

I look forward to these moments. I believe God created me to be a warrior, and there is nothing I would rather do than be here right now. There is nothing else going through my mind, but crushing the guy in front of me. So it kinda makes it easy.

Q. You said you like to crush a guy, but none of your matches are close and yet you never seem upset. Is that the key to your success?

CARTER STAROCCI: What close match have I had?

Q. Maybe other times -- anyway, what is your mindset when you do go out that you always -- I'm curious about your mindset as you do crush guys?

CARTER STAROCCI: This was a weird question, next one.

Q. You are wrestling another young man from Pennsylvania tomorrow night, Mikey Labriola. When you wrestle guys, someone from back state, is there more pride to it because you are also from that state?

CARTER STAROCCI: No. It doesn't really matter. I look forward to all the matches. I kind of want to wrestle. I wish this was back in the Roman days where you go through everybody instead of half of the side of a bracket and the winner on the other side. It makes no difference. I've wrestled him before, and I know he wants this one, but I want it more. We'll see who has the bigger balls.

Q. Carter, I know you just wrestled him in the Big Ten final, and it was 6-1. What conclusions did you take from that match that you can use going forward tomorrow night?

CARTER STAROCCI: He likes to come forward and wrestle, which I appreciate, but I believe the more guys want to wrestle me, it makes it worse for them, but he's a tough kid, strong, hard nosed. He's going to come at me like a bull for 7 straight minutes, and I'm looking forward to that and looking forward to getting my third Natty Daddy.

Q. Anything going through your mind that you're using to motivate, anything from anybody you look up to use for motivation this weekend?

CARTER STAROCCI: I seen this clip of Mike Tyson early on in the season, and he was going on in for his world title, and he had an interview and he said he didn't care about his world title. He wanted to strip that man of his health, and I was like, God, that dude is hard core.

Winning a national title is cool, but my head is not in the national scene or the college scene. I want to win an Olympic gold. I take this more seriously than anything, but I just keep looking to improve and get better.

Q. Carter, you talked about Levi Haines and how you would run through a steel door after watching him.

CARTER STAROCCI: Yeah.

Q. What advice did you give him? You guys are following the same path here, right?

CARTER STAROCCI: Yeah. He's hard nosed. There's not many kids that -- there's not many kids that want to challenge me. And when he first kinda walked in, he was like -- he made a few comments to me in the room. And I was like, dude, I don't know if you know who I am, but that's not going to roll around here.

And I appreciate him, and I know where he comes from, and he's the kind of guy that will walk through a whole family and punch you in the face. It's recognizable. He's a killer. And I'm looking forward to watching him do his thing tomorrow night.

Q. You talked about the excitement when your teammates win.

CARTER STAROCCI: Yeah.

Q. What your hand is raised and you said you're going for an Olympic gold, but you're going back to a national title for the third consecutive year, what's that feeling like?

CARTER STAROCCI: It's a really good feeling. I live in this moment. Every single day of my life, every time I go to practice, I'm not in the mode where it's like, I'm talking about, it's girlfriend's and things like that. I'm at practice to get better. So I'm not there to mess around and things like that. I take every practice as it's a national finals. You know what I mean? I'm like, let's go. This is for the national title right here.

I take it seriously. It's being in this moment. It's familiar. I live in these moments every day of my life. When I'm drinking my water on these weight cuts, I'm blessing the water. I'm having it feel me. I'm saying cool things about it. This is my life, and I enjoy the whole thing.

THE MODERATOR: Carter, thank you very much. Good luck with the Natty Daddy.