Penn State wrestlers address Donald Trump appearance at NCAA Finals

On the mats, Penn State wrestling is running away with another national championship in Philadelphia. However, away from the competition, the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships is on a collision course with Washington ahead of the appearance of President Donald Trump for Saturday night’s Final Round.

A move that is evoking strong opinions from both sides of the political aisle, the Nittany Lions’ top wrestlers are rising above the partisan fray, focusing on what the visit from the President of the United States means for the sport at large.

“He came to the Nationals, I believe, my sophomore year,” Carter Starocci said of Trump’s visit earlier in the week. “It was really cool. He’s obviously a big fan of combat sports. He’s at all the UFC events.

“I think it’s good for our sport. Like Gable [Steveson] said, he’ll watch the best wrestling on earth. We’re going to give it to him.”

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Starocci is one of three Nittany Lions competing for a national title on Saturday night. Penn State wrestling’s other NCAA Finalists struck a similar tone following their Semifinal victories.

“If you put politics aside, no matter if you’re conservative or liberal or whatever, to have the President of the United States be at something that we want to get people to watch, right? We want people to watch wrestling,” Mitchell Mesenbrink said. “We want people to be able to funnel not just money but people’s time, and their attention, and that is money.

“I think that’s cool. I think if it was a conservative or liberal, it would be really, really cool. Democrat or Republican, whoever it is, it’s the President of the United States, the leader of the free world at our wrestling event. That’s really cool when you think about it that way.”

“It’s a great honor for the sport of wrestling,” said Josh Barr. “The sport of wrestling is in a place where it needs growth, and that life and energy behind it, and President Trump definitely brings that. I think it’s a great thing for the sport and great to have our President’s support as we try and compete to the best of our abilities tomorrow. I think it’s just a really cool thing; great opportunity, and just grateful that he’s going to be here.”

Penn State wrestling has 135.5 points heading into Saturday morning’s medal round, 34 points ahead of second-place Nebraska. With 10 All-Americans and seven Nittany Lions still vying for third place in their respective weight classes, Penn State will clinch a fourth straight national championship at some point during Saturday’s first session.

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