Report: Former teammate, women allege misconduct from Starocci; Lackawanna College to move to Division II

Catching you up on the day's wrestling news from around the world with Mat Talk Online's Daily Wrestling Newsletter sponsored by @Resilite.

Jun 26, 2025

NCAA Wrestling Day One, Starocci walks off — Photo by Kate Hildebrand from The Daily Collegian.

Over the past few weeks, speculation surrounding former Nittany Lion Carter Starocci has surged among Penn State wrestling fans and on social media.

If you’re enjoying the buckets of news sent to you to start your day, consider bumping up that free account to a paid one. You get even more knowledge delivered your way.

Summer Hours

The newsletter will be using what I call “summer hours” until we start the season again. It’ll mostly be in the usual 6 a.m. Central release point, but travel and family obligations will sometimes push the daily release time later in the morning.

College News

Byrd, Humphrey Named Dike Eddleman Illinois Athletes of the Year - University of Illinois Athletics
The University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics (DIA) announced Wednesday that wrestling national champion Lucas Byrd and track & field All-American Tacoria Humphrey are winners of the 2024-25 Dike Eddleman Award, presented annually to the top Fighting Illini male and female athlete. The recipients were selected by vote of Illinois head coaches and DIA executive staff.

Early Lineup Look: 2025-26 Minnesota Golden Gophers - FloWrestling
A breakdown of the Minnesota Golden Gophers for the 2025-26 NCAA season.

McGeary Named MEC Co-Male Athlete of the Year; Extends Hilltopper Streak to Five Straight - West Liberty University Athletics
The Mountain East Conference (MEC) continued its rollout of 2024-25 season awards on Wednesday with the announcement of its Male and Female Athlete of the Year honors.

Lackawanna College To Transition To NCAA Division II, Will Join PSAC - Lackawanna College
Lackawanna College announced today that it has received an invitation to become a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), an NCAA Division II conference, during a press conference held on campus at the Student Union.

Lions Add Rahsaan Vereen To Coaching Staff! - Emmanuel University (Ga.)
Emmanuel Athletics is thrilled to announce the hiring of Rahsaan Vereen to the Wrestling Coaching Staff.

Emilee Demann Joins Hiram Women's Wrestling Coaching Staff - Hiram College
Hiram women's wrestling welcomed Emilee Demann as its assistant coach beginning in 2025-26, an exciting addition for a team that is set to begin its fifth season of competition, the first of which will have women's wrestling as an NCAA-sponsored sport.

New Murray State College making an impact in Texas - Owrestle ($$)
The trip to the Junior Duals showcased not only the talent across the state on the mat, it also showcased some new faces coaching the teams.

High School News

NWCA Announces National Boys High School Coaching Awards - National Wrestling Coaches Association
The National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) is proud to announce the 2025 national winners of its High School Boys Coach of the Year Awards, honoring outstanding leadership and excellence at the high school level.

Buchanan’s Troy Tirapelle, Jefferson Staff Named NWCA National Wrestling Coaches of the Year - Sports Illustrated
The National Wrestling Coaches Association honors Buchanan's Troy Tirapelle as Head Coach of the Year and Jefferson High School (GA) staff as top assistant coaching team

Wrestling tournament restructuring among approvals by WIAA's Board of Control - APG
A restructuring of the WIAA postseason tournament for boys wrestling was among changes approved by the Board of Control at its meeting Wednesday, June 25, at Stevens Point.

Braves Wrestling Club wins epic semifinal match, finishes 2nd at AAU Nationals — Kabra Wrestling
Winning by single point with two matches left, Braves Wrestling Club needed it’s final two wrestlers to come up big to get the win over Eagle Empire Purple in the Community 1 semifinals at the AAU Scholastic Duals at the Broward Convention Center.

White Bear Lake student graduates after cancer diagnosis - KARE11
Kessel was diagnosed with a Diffuse Midline Glioma last year after he suffered a severe headache while wrestling in a tournament. He had to retire from the high school wrestling team during his senior year to focus on battling cancer.

Missouri girls to get their own state tournament - MissouriWrestling.com
Effective with the 2026-27 school year, the Boys and Girls Wrestling Championships will be held on separate weekends, and both will be on the campus of the University of Missouri.

Recruiting & Commitment News

The Class of 2026 Flip Tracker - InterMat ($$)
In early January, we released an article entitled “Recruiting in 2024-25: The Year of the Flip.” At that point in time, 18 of the top 200 wrestlers from the Class of 2025 had flipped their commitment from one school to another.

Iowa State Adds All-Americans Poulin, Zerban - Iowa State University Athletics
Iowa State wrestling officially added a pair of 2025 All-American transfers, Stevo Poulin and Vinny Zerban, to the program, head coach Kevin Dresser announced Wednesday. Both Poulin and Zerban join the Cyclones from Northern Colorado and have one year of eligibility remaining.

UCO Picks Up Three Division One Transfers - Owrestle ($$)
The transfer portal is a unique animal in college sports. It’s relatively new and certainly isn’t without controversy. But a few announcements this week look as though they will benefit UCO soon.

Recent Commitment Listings
Transfer Portal (Flo) | InterMat | 2025 Men (Flo) | 2025 Women (Flo) | 2026 Men (Flo)

International News

Wrestlers, coaches successfully complete ITA anti-doping seminars - United World Wrestling
In it's aim to empower wrestlers and others to play clean, United World Wrestling was of the leading International Federations in the International Testing Agency's IF webinar series on anti-doping.

Budapest Ranking Series 2025 Entries: Women's Wrestling - United World Wrestling
The Budapest Ranking Series will begin on July 17 in Budapest and will run till July 20.

Watch Live: 2025 Yasar Dogu Results and Highlights - United World Wrestling
The prestigious Yasar Dogu, Vehbi Emre & Hamit Kaplan 2025 tournament gets underway in Turkiye on Thursday, June 26, in Kocaeli.

Wrestling-related MMA News

If you don't know UFC 317's Jacobe Smith, now's the time to pay attention - Yahoo Sports
The first big knockout of the 2025 came from Jacobe Smith, a fighter fresh off the Contender Series, who blasted a left hand through the head of Preston Parsons at a UFC Fight Night on Jan. 11.

Bella Mir Shattering The Stereotypes | UFC BJJ 1 - UFC.com
21-Year-Old Grappling Great Looks To Add To Decorated Résumé June 25 At UFC BJJ 1