CAREER
Athletic: Dan Hodge Trophy (2026)… 2X National Champion (2025, 2026)… 3X All-American (1st – 2025, 2026, 2nd – 2024)… NCAA Championships Most Outstanding Wrestler (2026)… NCAA Championships Most Dominant Wrestler (2026)… 3X Big Ten Champion (2024, 2025, 2026)… 3X First Team All-Big Ten (2024, 2025, 2026)… Big Ten Freshman of the Year (2024)… Big Ten Wrestler of the Week (11/27/24)… U23 World Champion (2025)… U20 World Champion (2023)… U.S. Open Champion (2025)… Junior Pan American Champion (2025)… 2X U20 Pan American Champion (2022, 2023)
Academic: 2X NWCA Scholar All-American (2025, 2026)… 2X Academic All-Big Ten (2025, 2026)… 2X CSC At-Large Academic All-American (1st – 2025, 2nd – 2026)
2025-26 • SENIOR SEASON
Season: Won his second national championship and took home the Dan Hodge Trophy following another unblemished run to the title at 165 pounds… Finished the year 27-0 with 15 dual wins and an untouched 8-0 Big Ten record… Forced a team-leading 78 dual meet points while allowing none… Had 26-of-27 wins come in bonus point fashion, logging eight pins, 11 technical falls, six major decisions and a win by forfeit… Won the Big Ten Championship, his third consecutive, inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
Oklahoma (11/14): Posted five first-period takedowns in a 19-4 tech fall over Owen Eck (2:45). Black Knight Invite (11/23): Went 4-0 with three pins and a tech to win the individual title... Pinned No. 18 Gunner Filipowicz of Army (2:03) in the title bout. Drexel (12/5): Teched Cody Walsh 19-4 (5:13). Lehigh (12/7): Had a dominant 15-7 major over No. 7 Max Brignola. Wyoming (12/13): Had a quick first-period pin of Sloan Swan at the 2:00 mark. Collegiate Wrestling Duals (12/20): Teched NDSU’s Boeden Greenly, 18-1, and pinned Stanford’s EJ Parco (4:23). Rutgers (1/10): Pinned Ryan Ford in the first period (2:28). Iowa (1/16): Had a dominant 11-2 major over No. 3 Michael Caliendo in Iowa City. Northwestern (1/18): Won via forfeit. Indiana (1/23): Pinned No. 19 Tyler Lillard in the second period (4:01). Maryland (1/24): Used a takedown and three turns in the first period with an escape in the second to post a 15-0 tech fall over AJ Rodriguez (3:24). Nebraska (1/30): Teched No. 7 LJ Araujo at 7:00 on 2:10 riding time, winning 20-5. Michigan (2/6): Rolled to a 20-5 tech fall (6:34) over Justin Gates. Ohio State (2/13): Majored No. 16 Paddy Gallagher in the Bryce Jordan Center. Princeton (2/20): Pinned No. 19 Ty Whalen (3:31) in the dual finale. Big Ten Championships (3/7-8): Earned his third straight Big Ten individual title in the BJC... Majored No. 15 Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State, 10-2, and teched No. 11 Andrew Sparks of Minnesota 19-4 (6:28) in the semifinals... Majored No. 3 Michael Caliendo of Iowa, 12-3, in the title bout. NCAA Championships (3/19-21): Won his second straight national title with a 20-4 tech fall over No. 3 Michael Caliendo in Cleveland... Went 5-0 with three techs and a major... Also posted a tech over No. 12 Cesar Alvin of Columbia in the semifinals.... Named 2026 NCAA Most Dominant Wrestler, 2026 NCAA Championship Outstanding Wrestler and won the 2026 Dan Hodge Trophy.
2024-25 • JUNIOR SEASON
Season: Capped off a stellar unbeaten season by earning his first individual NCAA National Championship... Became a two-time All-American with the unbeaten run... Went 27-0 overall with 18 techs and three majors... Won the NCAA’s season-long Technical Falls Award after nationals... Won his second Big Ten title as well... Went 15-0 in dual meets and 8-0 in Big Ten duals.
Drexel (11/17): Logged a dominant 21-4 tech fall (5:14) over Cody Walsh. Black Knight Invite (11/24): Named Outstanding Wrestler at the Black Knight Invitational after winning the 165-pound title with a 4-0 mark, all tech falls, including techs over No. 32 Tony White of Rutgers and No. 14 Gunner Filipowicz of Army in the finals. Lehigh (12/8): Dominated Thayne Lawrence in an 18-1 tech fall (4:37). Wyoming (12/15): Had his seventh tech in as many matches with a 15-0 win over Cooper Voorhees (3:17). Collegiate Wrestling Duals (12/22): Went 3-0 in Nashville, including a 17-1 tech fall over No. 21 Joey Bianchi of Little Rock (5:27). Michigan State (1/10): Rolled to 20-5 tech fall over Jay Navison (3:57). Nebraska (1/17): Dominated No. 7 Bubba Wilson in Lincoln, rolling to a 20-3 tech fall (5:39). Rutgers (1/24): Had five takedowns in a 19-3 tech fall (6:30) over No. 26 Anthony White. Iowa (1/31): Dominated No. 2 Michael Caliendo, forcing three stalls and grabbing five takedowns in a 19-4 tech fall (6:24). Michigan (2/7): Majored No. 10 Beau Mantanona, 18-4, with five takedowns. Maryland (2/9): Teched Alex Uryniak 18-3 (4:59). Ohio State: Teched Brock Herman 19-4 (4:39). Illinois (2/16): Majored No. 14 Braeden Scoles 10-1. American (2/21): Teched Kaden Milheim 19-2 (5:20). Big Ten Championships (3/8-9): Won his second Big Ten title by going 3-0 in Evanston... Got a medical forfeit win over No. 9 Paddy Gallagher of Ohio State, teched No. 10 Beau Mantanona of Michigan 25-8 (6:29) and then downed No. 2 Michael Caliendo of Iowa, 4-1, in the finals. NCAA Championships (3/20-22): Won his first National Championship and became a two-time All-American with a 5-0 showing in Philadelphia... Teched No. 33 and No. 16 before downing No. 8 Cameron Amine of Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals... Majored No. 12 Christopher Minto of Nebraska in the national semis to set up a dominant 8-2 win over No. 3 Michael Caliendo of Iowa in the national finals.
2023-24 • SOPHOMORE SEASON
Season: Became an All-American in his first season at Penn State, earning NCAA National Runner-Up laurels as a then-redshirt freshman... Went 26-1 overall with his only loss in the national finals on the riding time point... Went 12-0 in duals, 8-0 in Big Ten duals... Posted four pins, nine techs and four majors... Was the Big Ten Champion and Big Ten Freshman of the Year at 165.
Journeymen Collegiate (11/12): Went 3-0 in his first event as a Nittany Lion, including two technical falls... Black Knight Invite (11/19): Went 4-0 to win the title, including a 25-6 tech of Brevin Cassella of Binghamton and a first period pin (2:15) of No. 22 Anthony White of Rutgers. Lehigh (12/3): Notched a 17-2 tech fall over No. 32 Jake Logan in his Penn State dual debut in Rec Hall. Hofstra (12/10): Pinned Matt Waddell (1:24). Oregon State (1/5): Notched four takedowns and a four-point turn to dominate No. 10 Matthew Olguin in a 17-2 (3:44) tech fall. Indiana (1/14): Leading 7-1 in the first period, he won by injury default over No. 23 Tyler Lillard at 1:28. Michigan (1/19): Dominated No. 7 Cameron Amine, rolling to a 12-1 major decision, nearly DQ’ing Amine by forcing him into four stall calls. Michigan State (1/21): Majored No. 10 Caleb Fish, 18-9, tallying five takedowns in East Lansing. Maryland (1/28): Had a quick first-period pin of Ryan Money (0:50). Ohio State (2/2): Used two takedowns and two reversals to post a 10-4 win over No. 20 Bryce Hepner. Iowa (2/9): Controlled No. 6 Michael Caliendo, 12-6, for a B1G road win. Rutgers (2/12): Rolled to an 18-3 tech fall over Dylan White (6:52). Nebraska (2/18): Had takedowns in the second and third periods for an exciting 9-5 win over No. 15 Antrell Taylor. Big Ten Championships (3/9-10): Blazed through field at his first B1G tournament, going 3-0 with a pin and a tech to win the Big Ten Championship… Pinned No. 31 Blaine Brenner of Minnesota (3:59), teched No. 6 Michael Caliendo of Iowa 23-7 in semis and rallied late for a thrilling 13-11 win over No. 4 Dean Hamiti of Wisconsin in the finals… Named the 2024 Big Ten Freshman of the Year at the conclusion of tournament. NCAA Championships (3/21-23): Became an All-American and national runner-up with a 4-1 run at NCAAs… Had two majors and a tech fall to get to finals... Lost a hard fought 9-8 decision to No. 4 David Carr of Iowa State in the finals on riding time.
2022-23 • FRESHMAN SEASON (AT CAL BAPTIST)
Season: Went 2-0 with two pins... Both wins came in dual meets, but he did not compete again during the season, retaining his redshirt status.
HIGH SCHOOL
Hailing from Hartland, Wisconsin, Mesenbrink was a four-time Wisconsin state place winner and a three-time state champion at Arrowhead High School… Placed third in his first high school state tournament before rattling off three consecutive state titles... Was a four-year letterman and two-time team captain... Registered Classic 8 Academic Honors all four years of high school… Came away with a U20 Silver Medal in 2022 and added a U20 Pan American Championship at 70 kilograms before kicking off his collegiate career.
PERSONAL
Born in the summer of 2003, Mitchell Mesenbrink is the son of Bernadette and John Mesenbrink... He has one brother, Mack, and two sisters, Meryl and Morgan... His father, John, wrestled collegiately at Drake University... His sister, Morgan, ran track and field and East Stroudsburg University.
CAREER STATISTICS
|
Year |
Overall |
Duals (B1G) |
TRN (B1G/NCAA) |
F |
TF |
M |
PTS |
|
2022-23* |
2-0 |
2-0 (0-0) |
0-0 (0-0/0-0) |
2-0 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
12 |
|
2023-24 |
26-1 |
12-0 (8-0) |
14-1 (3-0/4-1) |
4-0 |
9-0 |
4-0 |
56 |
|
2024-25 |
27-0 |
15-0 (8-0) |
12-0 (3-0/5-0) |
0-0 |
18-0 |
3-0 |
75 |
|
2025-26 |
27-0 |
15-0 (8-0) |
12-0 (3-0/5-0) |
8-0 |
11-0 |
6-0 |
78 |
|
Career |
82-1 |
44-0 (24-0) |
38-1 (9-0/14-1) |
14-0 |
38-0 |
13-0 |
221 |
*at Cal Baptist