Penn State Wrestling's Mitchell Mesenbrink defeats Iowa's Mike Caliendo 8-2 to win the individual title at 165 in the 2025 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Credit: Lloyd McCully
This past year was yet another incredible season for Penn State Wrestling.
The Nittany Lions won their fourth straight Big Ten title and they won their 13th NCAA title in the last 15 tournaments. Not only was this their fifth straight natty, but to further add to their dominance on the mat, Penn State set the team scoring mark (181.5) for the third straight year.
Credit – Lloyd McCully
To frame this eloquently, “Penn State Wrestling is, like, really good”.
As far as individual awards, no other wrestler was as decorated this year as Mitchell Mesenbrink.
Mitchell Mesenbrink Adds to Penn State Wrestling Hardware
This season Mesenbrink won his third B1G title, his second NCAA title, and was named the Outstanding Wrestler of the NCAA Championships.
Oh, and he accomplished this by going a perfect 27-0 while piling up a bonus point percentage of 96.3%. Which keep in mind, just broke the previous program record of 94.1% set by David Taylor in 2014.
Mitchell has one more season left in Happy Valley, and this is where he currently sits in terms of Penn State Wrestling records:
Penn State Wrestling Records
Career Win Percentage
1st – Mitchell Mesenbrink 98.8%
2nd – Ed Ruth 97.8%
3rd – David Taylor 97.8%
Season Bonus Win Percentage
1st – Mitchell Mesenbrink 96.3% (2026)
2nd – Josh Barr 95.83% (2026)
3rd – David Taylor 94.1% (2014)
Career Tech Falls
1st – David Taylor 42
2nd – Mitchell Mesenbrink 35
3rd – Nick Lee 28
Season Tech Falls
1st – Mitchell Mesenbrink 18 (2025)
2nd – David Taylor 15 (2011)
3rd – Jason Nolf 11 (2016)
What’s Next for Mitchell Mesenbrink?
When Mitchell Mesenbrink rides off into the sunset following next year, it’s very possible he takes over David Taylor in career technical falls. And for a program that has been as dominant as the Nittany Lions have been over the past decade plus, it’s crazy to think that the best wrestlers and the best team in history are currently in the room.
Credit – Lloyd McCully
Mesenbrink is now the sixth Nittany Lion to win the Hodge Trophy and Penn State Wrestling has a total of eight Hodge Trophies.
Could next year be even better? Additionally, will Mitchell make it back-to-back with the Hodge? Or will someone else in the room take home this prestigious honor?
Well, I’m not even going to answer those questions. The final pages of this season have finally turned over and I think it’s best to let everyone enjoy what has already unfolded.
Besides, next year will be here before you know it!
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Education: Penn State University
Location: State College, PA
Even though he had no prior journalism experience, Chris has now covered Penn State Wrestling and Penn State Football for the past three years, including as the Penn State Wrestling Beat Writer for VictoryBellRings.com, part of the FanSided network.
And it's clear he also likes constant torture as he's been a PSU Basketball fan for way too long.
Several years back, Chris made the seamless transition from PGA Professional to computer programmer and thoroughly enjoys following and writing about all things related to Penn State sports during his spare time.
- Penn State Wrestling: Mitchell Mesebrink wins the 2026 Hodge Trophy - March 30, 2026
- Penn State Wrestling: Luke Lilledahl is an NCAA Champion! - March 21, 2026
- Penn State Wrestling: Josh Barr crushes his way to first NCAA Title! - March 21, 2026
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