Penn State Wrestling’s Mitchell Mesenbrink exuded confidence after rolling up technical falls, No. 7 L.J. Araujo, to give his college program a lead to outpace the Nebraska Huskers in the recent dual. The Nittany Lions defeated the Big Reds 26-12 in State College, setting itself up for a strong season ahead.
Mesenbrink has entered the 2025-26 season with the No. 1 rank in pound-for-pound among NCAA Division I wrestlers.
Penn State Wrestling’s Mitchell Mesenbrink Joins in Celebrations After Major Win Against Nebraska
Mesenbrink, who capped his sophomore season unbeaten and won his first individual National title in his respective weight class, going 27-0 overall. He also racked up All-American honors and earned NCAA’s season-long Technical Falls Award, before coming with the same dominance in his junior season.
He showcased his skills on the mat in the Black Knight Invitational, rolling to a 4-0 record, collecting a technical fall and three pins and ended his campaign with a win against No. 18 Gunner Filipowicz of Army at the 2:03 mark.
In the recent duals against the Huskers, Mesenbrink did it again by padding the Nittany Lions’ lead and contributing to a 26-12 win over Nebraska. Later, he posted his winning moments on his Instagram stories, keeping the celebration on with clips of him giving a tough time to Araujo on the mat.
He captioned his stories with ‘let’s run it,’ cheese emojis, implying command on the mat, and ‘manipulate time’.
Mesenbrink won his second Big Ten title last season, and went 8-0 in Big Ten duals, and 15-0 in dual meets.
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The Wisconsin-born, who followed in his father’s athletic footsteps, attended the Arrowhead High School, where he won Division I Wisconsin state champion’s title three times. He also shattered the national high school rankings, before committing to California Baptist University. Before he started competing with the Nittany Lions, the 22-year-old unfurled his prowess at the freestyle level.
He became the U20 Pan American chamion for the second consective time in 2023, and also won the 74kg title in the U20 World Championships. His repertoire also boasts a 74kg title at the World U23 Championships, and a Junior Pan American Games gold, among others. Besides the NCAA title he won in 2025, he also became the runner-up in the 2024 edition.
He also competed at the US Olympic Trials en route to the Paris Games in 2024. He lost to Jordan Burroughs in the semifinals but his third-place win secured him a spot on the US team, but he didn’t win the Olympic berth for the weight class.
