Some school wrestlers had their All-American moments Saturday evening.
Simply moments after Penn State wrestler Carter Starocci made historical past by turning into the primary five-time nationwide champion in NCAA historical past, he walked over to the mat-side seats at Wells Fargo Area in Philadelphia to shake palms with President Donald Trump.
Starocci defeated Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen, 4-3, to win the 184-pound championship and his fifth NCAA title.
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Carter Starocci of Penn State throughout a 184-pound match on the Division I males’s wrestling championship on the Wells Fargo Middle March 21, 2025, in Philadelphia. (Isaac Wasserman/NCAA Images through Getty Photographs)
It’s the first and probably final time a school wrestler achieves such a feat.
Starocci had a fifth yr of eligibility after participating within the 2021 season when all athletes got one other yr as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.
Starocci’s coach, Cael Sanderson, additionally shook palms with the president Saturday evening.
On Friday, different Penn State wrestlers spoke about Trump attending the occasion.
“It’s a great honor for the sport of wrestling,” Penn State’s Josh Barr advised reporters. “The sport of wrestling is in a place where it needs growth. It needs life and energy behind it, and President Trump brings it.”
Mitchell Mesenbrink advised reporters Friday that, no matter politics, he believes Trump’s attendance would assist enhance viewership.
President Donald Trump speaks with Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., whereas sitting subsequent to Tesla and SPaceX CEO Elon Musk and U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as they watch NCAA wrestling competitors on the Wells Fargo Middle in Philadelphia March 22, 2025. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP through Getty Photographs)
“We want to get people to watch, right? We want people to watch wrestling. We want people to funnel, not just money, but people’s time, and attention is money. So, I think that’s cool. And I think if it was conservative or liberal, it would be really really cool,” Messenbrink stated.
“Democrat or Republican, whoever it is, it’s the president of the United States. The leader of the free world at our wrestling event is really cool when you think about it that way.”
The wrestling championships are again at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Middle for the primary time since 2011, when Penn State gained all of it. That kick-started a dominant run by the Nittany Lions that continues. They’ve now gained 12 of the final 14 titles, together with 4 in a row, after clinching the staff championship earlier Saturday.
Trump met and celebrated with a handful of different wrestlers after their championship victories as properly.
Trump’s presence on the occasion introduced a nationwide highlight to the game of faculty wrestling and an electrical vitality to the constructing.
Trump walked into the Wells Fargo Middle and was greeted by a raucous crowd that chanted “U-S-A! U-S-A!” A couple of followers booed when Trump walked in.
Musk; OutKick founder Clay Travis; White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt; Training Secretary and former WWE govt Linda McMahon; Home Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa.; and a number of other different Trump allies have been within the entrance row to greet the president.
President Donald Trump and Carter Starocci of the Penn State Nittany Lions embrace throughout the 2025 NCAA Division I males’s wrestling championships on the Wells Fargo Middle March 22, 2025, in Philadelphia. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Photographs)
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Jordan was a wrestling champion in highschool and on the College of Wisconsin-Madison, the place he gained an NCAA Division I males’s wrestling title twice. He was later an assistant coach with Ohio State College’s wrestling program from 1987 to 1995.
It’s the second time in three years President Donald Trump has attended the NCAA wrestling championships. He additionally attended in 2023 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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