Some College-Wrestlers had their Allamerican moments on Saturday night.
Just moments after the Penn State Wrestler Carter Starocci made history by becoming the first five-time national champion of the NCAA story, he went to the Mat-Side seats at Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia to shake hands with President Donald Trump.
Starocci defeated Northern Iowas Parker Keckeisen, 4-3, to win the championship of 184 pounds and his fifth NCAA title.
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Carter Starocci from Penn State during a match of 184 pounds at Division I-Men’s Wrestling Championship at Wells Fargo Center 21 March 2025 in Philadelphia. (Isaac Wasserman/NCAA -Photos via Getty Images)
It is the first and possibly the last time a college -wrestler achieves such a business.
Starocci had a fifth year of eligibility after participating in the 2021 season when all athletes got another year due to Covid-19 Pandemic.
Starocci’s coach, Cael Sanderson, also shook his hands with the president on Saturday night.
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On Friday, other Penn State -wrestlers talked about Trump participating in the event.
“It’s a great honor for the wrestling sport,” Penn State’s Josh Barr said journalists. “Wrestling -Sport is in a place where it needs growth. It needs life and energy behind it, and President Trump brings it.”
Mitchell Mesenbrink told journalists on Friday that regardless of politics, he believes Trump’s participation would help improve viewing.
President Donald Trump talks to Senator Dave McCormick, R-Pa. While sitting next to Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and USA Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio as they see the NCAA Wrestling Competition in Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia March 22, 2025. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
“We want to get people to see, right? We want people to see wrestling. We want people to funnel, not just money, but people’s time and attention is money. So I think it’s cool. And I think if it was conservative or liberal, it would be really cool,” said mess.
“Democrat or Republican, whatever it is, is 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 back in Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center for the first time since 2011, when Penn State won it all. This started a dominant race of the Nittany Lions that continues. They have now won 12 of the last 14 titles, including four in a row, after clinging the team championship earlier Saturday.
Trump met and celebrated with a handful of other wrestlers after their championship victories.
Trump’s presence at the event brought a national limelight to the sport with college -wrestling and an electrical energy for the building.
Trump went into the Wells Fargo Center and was greeted by a violent audience sang “USA! USA!” A few fans lived when Trump went in.
Musk; Outkick -founder Clay Travis; Press Secretary in the White House Karoline Leavitt; Education Secretary and former WWE -Director Linda McMahon; The House Court Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio; Senator Dave McCormick, R-Pa.; And several other Trump Allies were in the front row to greet the president.
President Donald Trump and Carter Starocci of the Penn State Nittany Lions embrace during the 2025 NCAA Division in the Wrestling Championships in Wells Fargo Center 22 March 2025 in Philadelphia. (Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
Jordan was a wrestling champion in high school and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he won a NCAA Division I-men’s wrestling title twice. He was later assistant coach at Ohio State University’s Wrestling program from 1987 to 1995.
This is the second time in three years President Donald Trump has participated in the NCAA Wrestling Championships. He also participated in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2023.
