Blue White Illustrated

WRESTLING Penn State lands Marsteller Sanderson adds blue-chip recruits to Class of 2014, collects freestyle COY honors e was only in junior high, but Chance Marsteller was already being called the LeBron James of wrestling. Since then, the senior-to-be at Kennard-Dale High in Fawn Grove, Pa., has won three consecutive PIAA championships, without ever losing a varsity match. He's won a couple of freestyle national championships, too, and for the 2014 recruiting cycle, he's a unanimous pick as the nation's top recruit. In fact, as a junior, he would have been one of the top recruits in that cycle as well. Even as an eighth-grader, Marsteller pinned his first opponent at Penn State's Nittany Lion Open. Yes, the college tournament. Like James, Marsteller has always performed in ways that defy his age. So while his junior high coach told the (York) Daily Record in 2010 that his prodigy's early dominance reminded him of the NBA star's – a comment that caused expectations for the youngster to skyrocket – Marsteller has done just about everything he can to live up to them. Or even exceed them. And, as he announced to Willie Saylor of FloWrestling.com on July 4, he's hoping to continue exceeding expectations at Penn State. The verbal commitment didn't come as a major surprise. It had long been speculated that Marsteller would stay in-state to compete for the Nittany Lions, and that conjecture seemed to gain credence when the 160-pounder was seen sporting a Penn State Tshirt during warm-ups prior to the 2013 state championships. But Marsteller always left open the possibility of bypassing college altogether and going directly to the Olympic Training Center to pursue his dream of winning an Olympic gold medal. With the increased success of the Nit- H Tim Owen TAKE A CHANCE Marsteller is a three-time Pennsylvania state champion and the country's No. 1 recruit. He is expected to wrestle at the 165-pound weight class for the Nittany Lions. tany Lion Wrestling Club at the international level, however, Marsteller decided his best route to the Olympics was through University Park. "After I put it in perspective, I realized that the college route was best for me," Marsteller told FloWrestling. "The OTC is a great resource, but at Penn State, I have the best of both: world-class coaches and athletes to train with and an opportunity to get a college education and compete at the NCAA [tournament]." Marsteller also considered Arizona State, Oklahoma State and North Carolina, and is projected to compete at the 165-pound weight class in college. He isn't the only top-five recruit to commit to Penn State this summer. Nick Nevills also gave a verbal com- CORRECTION Ed Ruth's 68-bout win streak is not the longest in Penn State history as reported in the July 19 edition of BWI. Kerry McCoy's streak of 88 victories tops the charts. Ruth currently ranks second. mitment to Cael Sanderson in July. Nevills, a native of Clovis, Calif., is FloWrestling's top-ranked heavyweight and No. 5 pound-for-pound prospect in the country. Tom Haines, a threetime 220-pound PIAA champion who verbally committed to Penn State last winter, has since reopened his recruitment. Haines, who will also wrestle at heavyweight in college, is ranked by FloWrestling as the seventh-best overall prospect in the nation. The native of Solanco, Pa., is considering Ohio State, Cornell and Maryland among others. While recruiting season has been busy, Sanderson was named the winner of the 2012 Terry McCann Award, which goes to the USA Wrestling Freestyle Coach of the Year. Sanderson was the club and personal coach to Jake Varner, who won an Olympic gold medal last summer in London. Sanderson's pupil David Taylor also secured a spot on the U.S. National Freestyle Team. Taylor went 4-1 and took third place at the 2013 World Team Trials in June in Oklahoma City. Sanderson was named to the national team as an assistant coach. I

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