Carter Starocci reacts to Michigan’s Mason Paris winning the Hodge Trophy

If you are unfamiliar with the Hodge Trophy, it is essentially the Heisman Trophy of college wrestling, given annually to the nation’s best collegiate wrestler. This year, the award went to Michigan’s mason Parris — the undefeated heavyweight who compiled a perfect 33-0 record throughout the 2022-23 season and won the heavyweight individual national title. After the Hodge Trophy announcement was made, Penn State wrestling star Carter Starocci took to Twitter to react to losing the award to a Wolverine.

Penn State wrestling national champion Carter Starocci reacts on Twitter to losing Hodge Award

For the third season in a row, Penn State wrestling star Carter Starocci won the 174 lbs national title last week. The week before, he took down Nebraska’s Mikey Labriola in the Big Ten finals to claim a conference championship as well. On the season, Starocci is 23-0 with numerous high quality wins an individual Big Ten title, a team Big Ten title, an individual national championship, and a team national championship. When it comes to massive awards, few compare to the three-time Penn State wrestling 174 lbs national title winner.

While Parris’s season was incredible, so was Starocci’s, and he finishes the season with two more titles than Parris (the team Big Ten title and team national title). On the other hand, Mason Parris wrestled 10 more times than Starocci; however, it is hard to argue against Starocci, who boasts more national championships (3) than he does career losses (2). Starocci is now 80-2 overall in his college wrestling career after winning yet another title for the Nittany Lions just over a week ago.

Still, despite clearly being unhappy with the decision, Carter Starocci did not have much to say — he reposed with one word: “lmao,” though it can be inferred that he is in full disagreement with the call.

Lmao. https://t.co/4jZm4kzJtq

— Carter Starocci (@carterstarocci) March 27, 2023

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