Blue White Illustrated

has built relationships with several Nit- tany Lion wrestlers, including Nico Megaludis and Jimmy Gulibon, and oth- ers who hail from the Western Pennsyl- vania Interscholastic Athletic League and once competed on his club team, Young Guns. "I know guys who go [to PSU] and wrestle there, and they just tell me how awesome it is," he said. "And I believe them because they're all good guys and I like all of them, so that was de9nitely a big factor." Additionally, Joseph's coach throughout his career at Central Catholic was 1996 Penn State national champion Sanshiro "Sunny" Abe, who in April was hired for the head coaching position at North Allegheny. So unlike Joseph's other o:cial visits, when he traveled to PSU Sept. 20 for the Lions' football game vs. Mas- sachusetts, it was less about learning the ins and outs of a new school and more about reas- suring himself that Penn State was the proper 9t. "There's really no oth- er place in the country where I'll be able to train and get [the kind] of partners I can at Penn State," he said. The recruits who be- lieve in that, Sanderson said, are the ones he opts for. In addition to Joseph, Penn State is also set to welcome three pros- pects who hail from the western part of Penn- sylvania – Kellan Stout from Mt. Lebanon, Triston Law from Forest Hills and Dom Giannangeli from Franklin Regional. Al- though Sanderson is never completely 9nished recruiting – PSU o;en adds walk- ons and transfers during the season – his four-person class ranks as the No. 16 class in the country, according to Intermat. A;er signing college wrestling's No. 1 class a year ago and with limited schol- arship allocation this cycle, Sanderson seems nearly as ful9lled with his haul, if only because he found prospects who want to be part of his team, making his job as coach – or recruiter – just a bit easier. It might seem as though any top-end prospect would want to be part of a thriving program such as PSU, winner of four con- secutive national championships and a favorite once again a;er a sixth-place 9nish at nationals this past March. But Sanderson said that's not always the case, be- cause not everyone is ready to handle the de- mands. "At Penn State, we're going to expect a lot of you," he said. "Every time you wrestle, if it's at Penn State, it's a sold- out crowd. Then pretty much everywhere else we wrestle it's going to be their largest dual meet of the year. Those are the facts of the past 9ve years. You're going to get pounded on in practice for a while. We have the top freestyle program in the nation right now, and that's only going to grow. Is that what you want, or not? We like guys who want to come to Penn State. We've had a lot of success with the kids who want to come to Penn State." And he believes Joseph is next in line. "He wants to come to Penn State, and we're excited that we got him," Sanderson said. "I think he's going to be really good as well. It's just another example of, we want the kids who want to be at Penn State." ■ R E C R U I T I N G B I O S Dom Giannangeli 141/149 Murrysville, Pa. Franklin Regional CAREER RECORD 76-30 HIGHLIGHTS Fourth-place state 9n- isher in 2015 at 138... Helped Franklin Regional win back-to-back state dual meet championships Vincenzo Joseph 149/157 Pittsburgh, Pa. Central Catholic CAREER RECORD 136-21 HIGHLIGHTS Two-time state champi- on (2014 and '15)... Four-time state place-winner... Four-time Powerade placer, including titles as a freshman and senior... Dapper Dan selection... USA Scholastic All-America "Dream Team" selection... Ranked No. 2 na- tionally at 152 by FloWrestling.com... Intermat's No. 7 overall prospect in the Class of 2015 Triston Law 133/141 Windber, Pa. Forest Hills CAREER RECORD 136-27 HIGHLIGHTS Three-time state place- winner, including a fourth-place 9n- ish at 138 in 2015... Three-time Dis- trict VI champion... Southwest Re- gion champion in '15... Brother of current Nittany Lion wrestler Cody Law Kellan Stout 197 Mt. Lebanon, Pa. Mt. Lebanon CAREER RECORD 138-18 HIGHLIGHTS Two-time state place- winner, including a runner-up 9nish in 2014 and a championship in 2015 at 182... Southwest Region champion in '15... Dapper Dan selection... USA Scholastic All-American... Ranked No. 12 in the country at 182 by FloWrestling.com... Intermat's No. 83 overall prospect in the Class of 2015 –T.O. IntermatWrestle.com RECRUITING RANKINGS 1. Arizona State 2. Oklahoma State 3. West Virginia 4. Northern Iowa 5. Virginia 6. Ohio State 7. Minnesota 8. Wisconsin 9. Missouri 10. Michigan 11. Oklahoma 12. Iowa 13. Lehigh 14. Virginia Tech 15. Princeton 16. Penn State 17. Oregon State 18. Northwestern 19. Maryland 20. Rutgers 21. Navy 22. Illinois 23. South Dakota State 24. Edinboro 25. North Dakota State

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