After suffering an injury in his final regular season match against Edinboro, Penn State's Carter Starocci injury defaulted to No. 9 seeded Andrew Sparks of Minnesota on Saturday in quarterfinals Big Ten championships and is all but certainly going to do the same in the consolation round later on Saturday.
Entering Saturday, Sarrocci was the Big Ten's pre-seeded No. 1 wrestler at 174 pounds as well as being ranked the No. 1 wrestler in the country with an 11-0 record. He also came into the Big Ten Championships with a 64 match win streak, the longest in the nation.
By defaulting at the Big Ten Championships, Straocci will now have to rely on an at-large bid to make the NCAA which are set to begin on Thursday, March 21. The bracket for the the NCAAs will be released on Wednesday, March 13 on NCAA.com as part of a selection show at 8:00 p.m. ET.
When it comes to deciding at-large bids, the NCAA Division I Wrestling Committee takes into account; head-head competition, quality wins, results against common opponents, winning percentage, rating percentage index, coaches ranking, and conference tournament finish. With that criteria, the former Cathedral Prep standout is all but a lock to earn an at-large bid.
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