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smile about. When describing some of his match experiences from the 2013-14 season, he uses words like "nervous" and "awkward." A7er just barely beating out teammate Jordan Conaway for the 133-pound starting spot early last season – he actually lost to Conaway, now the starter at 125, in overtime at the Binghamton Open last November – Gulibon was slow to 5nd his groove. Said Sanderson, "I think he just got off to a bad start last year and didn't really recover mentally." As a result, he su6ered more losses than, really, ever. During the 5rst half of last season, he was defeated in 5ve consecutive matches, including two pins. For comparison's sake, he lost just four throughout his entire high school career. So, it certainly wasn't the start that Gulibon envisioned. "I came here to get better and be a national champ," he re- cently said. Without the immediate success last year, his head coach began to notice a di6erence. It wasn't that Gulibon seemed disinter- ested or discouraged, but, well, let's just say he wasn't smiling as o7en as Sanderson would have hoped. "I think he's pretty hard on himself," Sanderson said. "That comes with the territory. He's had a ton of success. He hasn't lost many matches his whole life. Then he lost more matches probably in the 5rst half of the season last year than he had in the previous 10 years. So that's When recruiting for college wrestling, a sport that is a6orded only 9.9 scholarships to divvy among its entire lineup, there are up years and then there are down years. Same goes for an overall recruiting class: Sometimes there is a surplus of talent across the country, other years it's slim pickings. That disparity, cou- pled with the sport's low scholarship cap, can make recruiting a tricky busi- ness. Some years, even the elite pro- grams are at a disadvantage simply be- cause the scholarship distribution of their roster leaves them with little to o6er the nation's best. For Penn State and the Class of 2016, however, the timing couldn't have lined up much better. With upwards of nine PSU student- athletes graduating a7er the 2015-16 season, including two or three starters, the Nittany Lions will be forced to re- load with the 2016 recruiting class. Luckily for them, the current high school junior class – both nationally and in Pennsylvania – appears to be one of the deepest and most talented of the past 5ve years. "Recruiting is timing, and we're real- ly looking at the junior class right now, hard," head coach Cael Sanderson said. "It's a very good class, one of the better classes that we've seen in a while." Due to NCAA regulations, Sanderson is unable to comment on speci5c re- cruits until they sign their letters of in- tent – even then, he usually waits until they're enrolled before he talks about them publicly – but on Nov. 26, he picked up the 5rst verbal commitment in that '16 class. That's when Mason Manville, a Vir- ginia native who competes for Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J., an- nounced via social media that he would be continuing his college career with the Nittany Lions. And if Manville is any representation of the caliber of prospects it will target, then PSU has a chance to construct one of the top recruiting classes in the nation for the next cycle. Both FloWrestling.com and Inter- matWrestle.com rank Manville as the nation's No. 2 overall prospect in the junior class. Already a prep national champion and winner of some of the country's most prestigious high school tourna- ments, including titles in Greco Roman and freestyle, Manville has tall aspira- tions for his collegiate career and be- yond. Elite 2016 prospect commits to Penn State HIGH HOPES Ranked No. 2 in next year's gradu- ating class, Manville said his goal is "to be a four-time NCAA champion – plain and simple." Minnesota/USA Wrestling - David Peterson

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