How Dake Beat Starocci At World Team Trials In 2025

So Kyle Dake beat Carter Starocci, 9 ncaa titles between them, no biggie. The end of this match just makes me question what it takes to get a takedown in freestyle, but we’ll talk about that at the end of the video.

Not much happens in the first 4 minutes. Lots of handfighting, a few scraps, nothing crazy. They both trade a shot clock point, so that’s fun, Starocci getting the second one, so technically he’s leading because the score is tied, same amplitude of scoring, he scored last.

About 1:25 left in the match, they both have a collar tie, ear to ear, which is always an annoying position to get stuck in. It’s a 50/50 tie up and it’s usually tightened to the max, making it difficult to move around for either wrestler. Looks like Starocci starts extending his arms to push Dake away as his grip loosens and so Dake takes the opportunity to go for a nice righty high crotch. Notice him use his left elbow to lift Starocci’s arm, making it easier for him to get there, and also the deep penetration step to allow him to cover the distance as Starocci instinctively moves away. It’s a textbook high crotch shot, show this to your kids. Starocci is able to circle away from the shot and cover the angle a bit, which means Dake has to circle with him in order to get to the double. Starocci uses his body lock to pull Dake down to his right to force him into a crack down.

I really like what Dake does in response to this crack down. He doesn’t immediately start reaching to that far leg, instead he turns it into more of a low leg single finish. He grabs the ankle with his right hand and starts creating some distance moving backwards, which allows him to put his head into Starocci’s knee, right above it, cementing the position. Now he can go into a tripod and start reaching for the double without Starocci having the ability to scoot his hips and get an angle again. This is a textbook crackdown finish, probably the most difficult one to scramble out of when done properly. Dake squares up, lifts the knee, Starocci starts to slip a little, probably because of all of the sweat late in the match which definitely does play a factor at this level, just ask J’Den Cox. Starocci hooks the leg with his arm as they fall, you would do this in folkstyle to funk, you grab the outside ankle with your free hand and pull the leg over your head and roll across your back, but in freestyle you would willingly be giving up 2 points. If you’re giving up that 2 points anyways, maybe it’s a good idea, it might be a way to create some more chaos instead of bailing and conceding, you have a possibility of scoring a reversal for 1, or winding up in a position for more. Who’s to say. 3-1 Dake.

Starocci pushes hard, but isn’t able to create anything meaningful. He gets a push out point and caution point with 6 seconds left, so that makes the score 3-3, but Dake is still winning because of that takedown having a higher amplitude than everything else.

And then I thought Starocci won, but I think that’s because the timer was incorrect on the scoreboard. They start, Starocci gets to a nice outside single, the set up was nice too, pulling that head slash arm to the left and then attacking on the right. The momentum shift of that set-up almost slingshots you into the shot, it’s an interesting feel. He comes right up to the double which is typical and a great idea. Dake goes body lock but Starocci circles into the shot to counter that and put Dake to his butt. I look at the clock and it says 4, I look back to the action and be like oh damn Starocci won. But if we take a better look at the clock, it ticks from 4 to 0. So, I guess he didn’t get the takedown quickly enough, otherwise, what does it take to get a takedown in freestyle? I feel like this should be one.

They challenge of course, takedown not awarded. Dake gets the win. Interesting end, a lot of good technique on display.