US Olympic Wrestling Trials: Even After Loss, Carter Starocci Elated As Aaron Brooks Qualifies

On Friday, Penn State’s Carter Starocci, a four-time national champion, began with a commanding 12-4 win over Pat Downey in the 86 kg freestyle category at the US Olympic wrestling trials. However, a 6-4 loss to Trent Hidlay in the second round ended his trials run, Owing to an injury default during the consolation round. Meanwhile, in the closing bout of Day 1 was electrifying. Aaron Brooks from Hagerstown stole the show by securing four unanswered points in the last 21 seconds, showcasing incredible skill and determination. 

In a riveting display of resilience and camaraderie, the trials witnessed a blend of triumph as Carter Starocci, despite a hard-fought loss, radiated joy at his teammate Aaron Brooks’ successful qualification. After the loss, Starocci took to his X and posted, “AARON BROOKS 💪🏽.” expressing his joy over the matter.

Four-time NCAA Champion again proved to be the best with Friday night’s performance. Aaron rounded up from a 6-3 deficit with 25 seconds left to overtake Zahid Valencia 7-6 in the 86kg freestyle challenge bracket final. Brooks trailed Valencia for nearly all of this Challenge tournament final to an almost certain loss 6-6, until the last seconds. With this, Aaron Brooks secured a big match.

It is against defending Olympic champion and weight class favorite David Taylor, a former Penn State star, for the best-of-three championship series. Brooks has a rematch with Taylor in the championship series for the second year in a row. Last year, Taylor beat Brooks 6-0 and 5-4 at the Final X world championship qualifier, going on to win his third world championship. Meanwhile, let us take a look at how things panned out for Starocci.

Carter Starocci has yet to go a long way to prove a point

Starocci got into an online war against his first-round opponent Pat Downey. Carter cryptically hinted at handing him a defeat like that of one of his MMA bouts. Whereas Downey accused “Penn State guys” of making excuses for Starocci. In fact, he also vowed to teach Starocci some manners on behalf of Jordan Burroughs. For context, Carter vowed to end 6x world champion Burroughs’ career in the qualifiers. However, that remained just words since he had to bow down to Starocci. Interestingly, after the loss, many might find Downey’s comments as excuse.

Downey said that he was dealing with a torn MCL and broken rib, and he would have not only beat Starocci, but tech-falled him, had he been “fresh.” “I mean, no doubt about it. But, I mean, I’m limited with what I have. So I’m trying to conserve and use energy sparingly,” Downey stated. However, Starocci’s triumph was short-lived. Winning his first match in the 86 kg freestyle bracket, Penn State’s Carter Starocci had just an hour to recover before facing Trent Hidlay, the NCAA runner-up at 197 pounds.

Starocci moved up a weight class in freestyle (he won his NCAA title at 174), so he anticipated the challenge. Despite a back-and-forth match, Hidlay secured a 6-4 victory with a second-period takedown, breaking a 3-3 tie. That is how Starocci’s journey ended. Interestingly, after the loss, Carter drew some criticism from the online community. But not because of his performance.

The criticism was more because of his verbal spat with A wrestler of Jordan Burroughs’ stature and his boastful claims. One user comment read, Hey Carter, be humble next time”. Another one pointed out, “Carter talked and talked and talked then embarrassed himself.” It is not known if Starocci will stop talking. But he will surely look forward to let his performance speak in the coming days.