He lost four of six matches earlier this season. Now he has won six in a row.
There was once an All-America finish. There were also a couple early exits at the national tournament.
He’s beaten opponents when many picked against him. (His own favorite dual meet memory was when he beat Iowa’s Cory Clark, 8-5, in the Bryce Jordan Center a couple years ago. “That was a good one,” he said.) But he’s been defeated in about as many that he was picked to win.
It’s been a career of paradox like that for Penn State senior Jimmy Gulibon, and it is now winding down to its conclusion. With one more postseason run to go, any attempt to prognosticate the final outcome would be futile. But ask his teammates, analyze the recent matches, and there’s plenty of reason to believe that Gulibon’s best is yet to come.
“He’s ready to go. I think that’s exactly how to describe it,” said teammate Zain Retherford. “If March is now, he’s ready.”
It’s now been one month since his last loss, a 4-1 decision to Rutgers’ Anthony Ashnault, and en route to winning the next six straight Gulibon has beaten three wrestlers with rankings aside their name. The next test will be his most difficult, arriving Sunday in the Dual Championship Series at Oklahoma State. It is another one of those matches in which the other guy is favored. Wrestling Dean Heil, the reigning NCAA champion at 141 pounds, Gulibon gets an opponent who topped him, 9-5, in this very same event a year ago. The loss was part of a four-match winless streak for Gulibon that escorted him into his third postseason and preluded a 2-2 outing at the NCAA Championships.
Nobody has beaten Heil since, and odds say he won’t lose Sunday. But this isn’t the same Gulibon from a year ago. And as he’s shown since he arrived at PSU five years ago, the odds don’t always apply.
When it comes to his on-mat results, they have been as consistently unpredictable as any other four-year starter's under Sanderson at PSU, and thus far his career has been trademarked by that. There is a constant, though, and what that is is his everyday approach and an endearing workmanlike attitude toward a sport he loves.
Inside the room, coaches and teammates know exactly what they’re getting from Gulibon. It’s a side that fans get to see as well, even if the outcomes of his matches are varied. Minus the wins and losses, you get a student-athlete who doesn't get too low in defeat and is nearly silent in celebration after victory. Not even in his Rec Hall finale Sunday was there any roof raising, fist pumping or bicep flexing after he beat Maryland's Ryan Diehl. Just a raise of the arm. Just Jimmy.
Wrestling alongside his teammates, many of whom themselves were once blue-chip recruits too but maintain regular highly-rated success, Gulibon has continued to press forward. He’s a testament of stick-to-it-iveness, an illustration of dedication and a symbol of forging ahead through adversity. If his career was done now, he’d go with 71 career victories and 41 losses. But it’s not done today. “There’s a lot of wrestling left,” Gulibon said. “It’s been a great five years. I’ve had a lot of fun.”
And the best aspects of what his coaches and teammates have learned about Gulibon in that span are what they think can lead him to an improbable finish.
“Commitment and work ethic, they prepare you to be successful," Sanderson said, "but you still have to go out there on game day and make it happen. Just because he’s as disciplined and dedicated as he is, he still has to go out there and fight for his points and make it happen. That’s what we have seen the last, I’d say, six matches. Hopefully he’ll continue on, because he has incredible ability: speed. He’s as fast as anyone I’ve ever coached.”
When he’s at his best there are few who can match his feverous pace. Retherford said Gulibon's high-crotch takedown attempt is as fast as anyone's he's seen. "It's really quick," he said. "You barely see it sometimes."
When he's not on the mat, Gulibon presents an entirely different disposition. For one more contradiction, his aggressive wrestling style is in stark contrast to his calm and reserved public demeanor. “There’s something new for you,” Sanderson quipped. “He’s shy.”
Soft-spoken is another way Sanderson describes the only senior in his 2016-17 starting lineup. He also calls him “one of the nicest kids you’ll ever meet.”
In various interviews and interactions, dating back to his days as a four-time state champion from Derry (Pa.) Area, Gulibon has displayed nothing to discredit that. And maybe that’s why, as he embarks upon the final month of his career, he has a supporter here as well.
There will be no one, however, pulling harder for Gulibon to conclude on the winning side of the score sheet than those in his corner.
“It would be great to see Jimmy finish the season on a strong note and be happy and get up on the podium and get up there real high,” Sanderson said. “Makes me smile just kinda thinking about it. I’d love to see him finish strong, just because of the kind of kid he is and just because of that dedication.
“He has the ability and it’s just up to him to make it happen. We’ve talked about him from the beginning, saying he’s a guy who has a chance to really give this team a boost.”
