PHILADELPHIA — From the time he was considered just a brash freshman with potential, Carter Starocci has been unabashedly authentic. He’s always spoken what was on his mind, no matter if it was expedient.

As the old sports saying goes, it ain’t bragging if you can back it up. If there’s one thing that Starocci has always done, it’s back up his words.

He was asked in his post-championship news conference Saturday night in the Wells Fargo Center what would you have said to Cael Sanderson if he would have told you as a freshman coming to Penn State that you would be a five-time national champion?

“I would have said ‘you’re damn right,'” Starocci said.

His unprecedented fifth NCAA championship, this one at 184 pounds after four at 174, wrapped a shiny gold bow on yet another historic performance from Penn State at the 2025 NCAA Division I wrestling championships. His win gave the Nittany Lions 173 points, eclipsing the record of 172.5 Penn State set just last year. Mitchell Mesenbrink’s subsequent title, at 165, set the new standard at 177.

Nebraska, with two champions, finished in second with 117 points. Oklahoma State, which also crowned two champions, finished third with 102.5. Iowa, with a champ of its own, finished fourth with 81.

The Nittany Lions walked away with those two champions, a runner-up in Josh Barr (197), third-place finishers in Luke Lilledahl (125), Beau Bartlett (141), Shayne Van Ness (149), Tyler Kasak (157) and Levi Haines (174), a fifth-place finish from Braeden Davis (133) and a sixth-place from Greg Kerkvliet (285).

It is Penn State’s fourth consecutive championship, the 12th in the last 14 contested tournaments and 13th in program history. Penn State is third on the all-time list behind second-place Iowa with 24 and first-place Oklahoma State with 34.

“It’s a great team. Just ten quality, tough, ten All-Americans. Obviously super hard to do,” coach Cael Sanderson said. “Everybody’s talking about the expectations and the point record or whatever it is. We don’t talk about that stuff. But you know kids live on their phones so they’re seeing it and hearing all the time and it’s hard. Being expected to do something and doing it is probably the toughest thing in sports, but it also makes it a fun challenge.”

ESPN asked that the 184-pound final be moved to the first match of the championships to showcase the showdown between Starocci and defending champion Parker Keckeisen of Northern Iowa. Both wrestlers were undefeated.

After a scoreless first, Starocci and Keckeisen swapped escapes to start the second and third periods. As the clock ticked under a minute, Starocci countered a Keckeisen shot and scored the decisive takedown with just 46 seconds left. The Panther would escape and earn a stalling point but Starocci held on for the 4-3 win.

“When I had a double leg, I kind of heard coach Casey say, ‘it’s danger.’ So then when he said that, I was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ Like I forgot about that,” Starocci said.

“So, then I peeked over my shoulder and I saw that his back was close to the mat. At that point, I started threatening danger more. So, the ref sort of counted danger, and that kind of made him adjust his hips and balance a little more. As soon as he shifted, that’s when I made the adjustment and got the takedown.”

Starocci acknowledge his place in history, but wouldn’t elevate himself over his coach.

“As a competitor, when you toe the line, I believe I’m the baddest dude out there,” he said, and then he started detailing what Sanderson has done as an athlete and a coach.

“He’s coached everything that he’s done. I think that’s going to live on forever. So, I think he’s the greatest of all time.”

Starocci, who ends his career with a 104-4 career record, was voted the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.

Mesenbrink claimed Penn State’s second title of the night as he defeated Iowa’s Mikey Caliendo, 8-2. The Nittany Lion is 6-0 all-time against the Hawkeye.

Mesenbrink carried the action throughout, scoring takedowns in the second and third periods and adding a pair of escapes. His title comes a year after a runner-up finish in 2024.

“I think the main thing is going to sound ironic is that it’s not all about being a national champion, right? It’s about your performance. And I’m so lucky to have been brought up through that, through AWA (Askren Wrestling Academy) and, most importantly, my dad, and then go to Penn State, and even more so, it’s about performance, right? Like if I wouldn’t have went out there and brought it, then, honestly, I’d rather lose.”

Mesenbrink, who said after his 4-1 win over Caliendo in the Big Ten title bout that he appreciated his willingness to battle, emphasized that again.

“We’re gladiators out there. You see how many people are watching. People want to see people scrap,” he said. “They want to see people fight. But if it’s like 1-1 and we’re going to stand there, that kind of makes me want to puke. I don’t really want to see that.”

Barr fell just short in the 197-pound final against Iowa’s Stephen Buchanan. After a scoreless first, Barr earned a point for locked hands and an escape to open a 2-0 lead. Buchanan, though, scored a takedown with 32 seconds left. He escaped in the third and would not let Barr penetrate his defense. A point for riding time set the final at 5-2.

The Nittany Lions win clinched the team title midway through the consolation semifinals early Saturday afternoon.

When Session 5 started, Penn State enjoyed a 34-point lead on second-place Nebraska, 135-5 – 101.5. By the end of the session, which included consolation semifinals and third-, fifth- and seventh-place bouts, the Nittany Lions went 11-2 and expanded their total to 169 and lead to 60 over Nebraska.

Lilledahl posted two wins divergent wins Saturday to earn his third-place finish. First, he survived a consolation semifinal bout with Virginia Tech’s Eddie Ventresca with a takedown in sudden victory for a 4-1 win. Then, in the third-place bout against Purdue’s Matt Ramos, Lilledahl led 5-4 in the third when he took down the Boilermaker to his back and got the fall in 6:18, the first of his career.

Seeded No. 1, Lilledahl said his mindset was to get the next-best thing after being upset in the quarterfinals.

“My coaches just telling me ‘these guys all want a reason to quit, so give it to them.’ Just wrestling hard and getting in my positions is going to do that. It gets in their heads whenever they can’t win the mini battles in the hand ties and top and bottom,” he said.

Bartlett, too, survived a sudden victory period in his consolation semifinal win over Josh Koderhandt of Navy. With the match tied 6-6, Bartlett took Koderhandt down to his back for a five-point move and 11-6 win. Then, in the third-place bout, he repeated an earlier win over Penn’s CJ Composto, this time breezing to an 11-2 major decision for his 100th win. He finishes his career with a 100-20 record.

“Yesterday, I felt like I let people down a little bit. There was that feeling. But just the positive words I got from everyone knowing how happy they are to see me,” he said. “Ten All-Americans, that is spectacular.”

Van Ness was dominant in bouncing back from his semifinal loss. He decked Oregon State’s Ethan Stiles in 1:06 in the consolation semifinal before rolling up a 15-4 major decision over Ohio State’s Dylan D’Emilio in the third-place bout.

Kasak had a harder path to his third-place finish. He survived a 4-2 decision over Cornell’s Meyer Shapiro in the consolation semifinals and then blanked Northwestern’s Trevor Chumbley in the third-place bout.

“There’s a great deal of gratitude and a great deal of dissatisfaction that kind of comes with taking third again. It’s not something that you want to get,” he said.

But recounted how he and Davis had used ChatGPT to research the number of high school wrestlers and college wrestlers that funneled down to 330 NCAA qualifiers, 80 All-Americans and 10 champions. He said he had to be grateful to have what so many other wrestlers were unable to attain.

Haines, too, had to bounce back from a heartbreaking semifinal loss. He posted a 4-1 win over Cornell’s Simon Ruiz and then majored Iowa’s Patrick Kennedy 11-3 for third.

Davis dropped his consolation semifinal match to Wisconsin’s Zan Fugitt 8-5. But in the fifth-place bout against Virginia Tech’s Connor McGonagle, Davis scored a defensive fall from neutral in 2:33 to finish in fifth, ahead of his No. 8 seed.

Kerkvliet, obviously limited by his heavily braced left knee, medically forfeited his consolation semifinal and fifth-place bouts. He finishes his career as a five-time All-American and NCAA champion with a 92-13 career record.