3-time champ Starocci tops ex-champ Lewis to reach semis at NCAA wrestling championships

Penn State's Carter Starocci, left, wrestles Virginia Tech's Mehni Lewis in the quarterfinals of the 174 lbs. division at the NCAA Div. 1 wrestling championships, Friday, March 22, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (Emily Curiel/The Kansas City Star via AP)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Carter Starocci of Penn State shut out longtime rival Mekhi Lewis of Virginia Tech to advance to the semifinals at the NCAA wrestling championships on Friday, putting the Nittany Lions star two wins away from his fourth national title.

Starocci is seeded ninth at 174 pounds, despite winning the past three championships, because of a pair of injury defaults he took at the Big Ten championships to rest an injured knee. That put him against the No. 1 seed Lewis, the 2019 champion at 164 pounds, in the quarterfinal round in an eagerly anticipated rematch of the 2022 championship match that went down to a tiebreaker.

Starocci’s knee looked just fine Friday. And no tiebreaker was needed.

He converted a takedown just 58 seconds into their match, then added another point with a second-period escape, before holding tough in the final period for the 4-0 victory and a spot in the semifinals against fourth-seeded Shane Griffith of Michigan on Friday night.

“There’s no place in this world I’d rather be than here,” Starocci said.

Top-seeded Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa continued his unbeaten romp to the semifinals at 184 pounds; Penn State’s Aaron Brooks joined Starocci in moving within two wins of a fourth title by winning his quarterfinal at 197 pounds by fall; and at 285 pounds, Starocci and Brooks’ teammate, Greg Kerkvliet, also stayed undefeated by squeaking out a 1-0 win over Nick Feldman of Ohio State.

There will be plenty of high-profile showdowns in the semifinals on Friday night.

In the brightest spotlight could be Keegan O’Toole of Missouri, the 165-pound star chasing a third straight national title in front of what amounts to a home crowd at T-Mobile Center. O’Toole has won each of his three matches by fall, including his quarterfinal against Antrell Taylor of Nebraska, whom he caught in a cradle and put on his back for the pin.

“Just rolling around, having fun,” said O’Toole, who will be facing Iowa State’s David Carr, the 157-pound champ in 2021 who lost to the Missouri star in the 165-pound finals a year ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In the other semifinal at 165 pounds, Michael Caliendo of Iowa will try follow his impressive upset of third-seeded Julian Ramirez of Cornell against No. 2 seed Mitchell Mesenbrink, the Penn State standout who remains unbeaten on the season.

There was a shakeup at 125 pounds, where eighth-seeded Richard Figueroa of Arizona State beat No. 1 seed Braeden Davis of Penn State on riding times to reach the semifinals against 12th-seeded Anthony Noto of Lock Haven, who sprung his own upset of Purdue’s Matt Ramos.

No. 1 seed Daton Fix of Oklahoma State, the four-time All-American still chasing that elusive national title, advanced to the 133-pound semifinals against Michigan’s Dylan Ragusin, while sixth-seeded Vito Arujau of Cornell — the world freestyle champion — earned his third straight major decision to set up a showdown with unbeaten No. 2 seed Ryan Crookham of Lehigh.

There was another upset at 141 pounds, where sixth-seeded Lachlan McNeil of North Carolina was tied with No. 3 seed Real Woods of Iowa in the closing seconds of their match before getting a takedown and near-fall points for the 7-1 victory. He will face No. 2 seed Beau Bartlett of Penn State, who is surging into the semifinals after back-to-back falls.

No. 1 seed Ridge Lovett of Nebraska will face fourth-seeded Caleb Hansen of Virginia Tech at 149 pounds, where third-seeded Austin Gomez of Michigan knocked off No. 3 seed Jackson Arrington of North Carolina State. Gomez will face Arizona State’s Anthony Parco.

Levin Haines added to the dominance of Penn State at 157 pounds with a major decision, putting the No. 1 seed up against No. 12 seed Bryce Andonian, who will be going for his third straight — and by far the biggest — upset in the semifinals. On the bottom half of the 157-pound bracket, sixth-seeded Daniel Cardenas of Stanford advanced on riding time to face No. 2 seed Jacori Teemer of Arizona State.

“The training we do prepares us for basically anything,” Cardenas said after beating No. 3 seed Meyer Shapiro of Cornell.

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