Three Erie-area wrestlers to compete at NCAA Division I championships. Who are they?
Three former Cathedral Prep wrestlers competed at the 2024 NCAA Division I championships.
Three more will take the mats this year in Philadelphia.
Carter Starocci, Paniro Johnson and Jake Van Dee wore the same Rambler singlets in 2019. Starocci won his second PIAA championship that year, two years before Van Dee won his first.
All three now star for their respective college programs. Starocci seeks a record-setting fifth NCAA D-I title while the other two pursue All-American status for the first time.
Here’s what to know ahead of the action at Wells Fargo Center.
History in the making?
Starocci, Van Dee and Bucknell’s Dorian Crosby (a 2020 Prep alum) each won their first match at last year’s national championships, giving the former Ramblers a 3-0 start.
Crosby transferred to Gannon University for a graduate season which saw him capture D-II All-American honors at heavyweight. Johnson, a 2021 Prep graduate and redshirt sophomore at Iowa State University, replaces him after missing the 2023-24 collegiate season.
Johnson, the Big 12 conference champion, is seeded fourth at 149 pounds with a 21-5 season record. He’ll open the tournament against Virginia’s Jack Gioffre (9-6) before a potential second-round matchup with No. 13 Dylan D’Emilio (21-5) of Ohio State and quarterfinal against fifth-seeded Kyle Parco (20-3) of Iowa.
Van Dee, a 14-9 sophomore at the University of Nebraska and 2022 Prep alum, will aim to improve upon last year’s 1-2 NCAA finish. The 17th seed at 133 pounds, he’ll open against Pennsylvania’s Ryan Miller (22-6), the winner likely earning a bout with top-seeded Lucas Byrd (18-3) of Illinois.
Penn State graduate student Carter Starocci is perhaps the tournament’s biggest story.
Starocci’s only losses since 2021 were his two medical forfeits at the 2024 Big 10 championships. One of seven four-time D-I champions in wrestling history and the defending champ at 174 pounds, the 2019 Prep grad begins his quest for No. 5 as the top seed at 184. He’s 21-0.
Many expect Starocci to meet Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen (24-0), the reigning 184-pound national champ, in Saturday’s championship finals. Starocci defeated Keckeisen in sudden victory at the 2024 NWCA All-Star Wrestling Classic in November, a bout not sanctioned by the NCAA.
Championship information
First-round preliminaries start Thursday at noon.
Second-round prelims will follow at 7 p.m. before quarterfinals Friday at noon and semis at 7 p.m. Consolation bouts will accompany each of these rounds.
Consolation finals are Saturday at 11 a.m. before championship finals at 7 p.m. All matches will be either broadcast on the ESPN family of networks or streamed through ESPN+, including first-round prelims, quarterfinals and consolation finals on ESPNU, semis on ESPN2, and second-round prelims and finals on ESPN.
Penn State seeks a fourth consecutive team championship and 12th since 2011.
Contact Jeff Uveino at juveino@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @realjuveino.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: NCAA wrestling: Erie sends three Cathedral Prep alumni to national meet
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