While wearing Mark Hall’s singlet, Penn State wrestling true freshman Carter Starocci was a spinning image of his teammate and counterpart of 174 lbs. at the Southern Scuffle. Starocci replicated one of Hall’s most impressive feats by winning the country’s premier in-season tournament as an unattached wrestler Thursday.

Starocci, a graduate of Erie’s Cathedral Prep, entered the tournament seeded sixth, but boat-raced his way through the field en route to a title. He was 6-0 with a pin, technical fall, and two major decisions. His only non-bonus point wins came in the semifinals and finals and with comfortable leads of 9-2 and 11-6 against VMI’s Neal Richards and Pitt’s Gregg Harvey.

The strong showing was reminiscent of a similar run Hall went on at the 2017 Southern Scuffle while wrestling unattached during an apparent redshirt year. Of course, later that January, he would burn his redshirt before winning an NCAA title as a true freshman. With Hall’s strong hold on their shared 174-lb. weight class, Starocci doesn’t seem primed to follow further in his footsteps this season, but this week certainly bodes well for the future of Penn State wrestling and one of its next stars.

Also wrestling in the Scuffle this week, which Penn State didn’t attend as a team for the first time since 2017, were fellow true freshmen Michael Beard and Joe Lee.

Beard placed fourth at 197 lbs. while going 3-2 with two major decisions. He faced four different ranked wrestlers and posted wins over No. 4 Nick Reenan of NC State and No. 6 Dakota Geer of Oklahoma State. Lee was 5-2 with two technical falls and a pin en route to a fifth place finish at 165 lbs.