KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Carter Starocci and Aaron Brooks began pursuit of their fourth NCAA wrestling championships for Penn State with a pair of easy first-round victories Thursday, while Daton Fix also cruised as he pursues the title that has long eluded him.
Starocci has been dealing with a knee injury that he sustained in the Nittany Lions’ final dual meet of the season, which caused him to injury default at the Big Ten championships. That knocked Starocci all the way down to the No. 9 seed at 174 pounds, but he nevertheless looked like the man to beat with a 12-6 win over Minnesota’s Andrew Sparks.
Brooks followed with a technical fall over Evan Bates of Northwestern at 197 pounds to advance to the second round.
Meanwhile, Fix gave all the orange- and black-clad Oklahoma State fans who made the relatively short trip north to T-Mobile Center in Kansas City a reason to roar with his technical fall of VMI’s Dyson Dunham. Fix has been in the top four at the NCAA championships three times, including a pair of second-place finishes, but has yet to stand atop the podium.
He came back this season to use the extra year the NCAA offered because of the COVID-19 pandemic, winning a record fifth Big 12 title and claiming the No. 1 seed in one of the most loaded weight classes of the entire tournament.
The No. 2 seed at 133 pounds, Ryan Crookham of Lehigh, had to sweat out a 4-3 win over Maximilian Leete of American to set up a second-round match with Brody Teske, who will have the backing of thousands of Iowa fans in the stands.
The defending champion at the weight, Vito Arujau of Cornell, rolled to a major decision over Gable Strickland of Lock Haven in the first round. Arujau beat Fix and longtime Penn State standout Roman Bravo-Young on the way to the title last year.
Arujau followed in the footsteps of his father, Vugar Orujov, by winning the freestyle world championship last September.
The round of 16 and consolation matches take place later Thursday. The quarterfinals and championship semifinals are Friday night before the champions are crowned on Saturday.
