Penn State Wrestling is showing no signs of slowing down on their way towards complete domination in collegiate wrestling. Mitchell Mesenbrink was previously in the transfer portal following his freshman year at Cal Baptist University. And I say “was” because he just announced he is committing to Cael Sanderson and the Nittany Lions. This is obviously another major get for Sanderson and Penn State Wrestling, and Mesenbrink will have four years of eligibility left as he redshirted the past season.
Mitchell Mesenbrink announces that he’s headed to Penn State 🦁 pic.twitter.com/Ij8Ufq101Y
— Justin Basch (@JustinJBasch) April 21, 2023
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Mesenbrink’s arrival comes on the heels of Penn State Wrestling pulling Bernie Truax from the transfer portal, earlier this week, continuing to bolster a roster that took home the national championship last season. During his time at Cal Baptist, Mesenbrink only competed in two matches for the Lancers where he was 2-0 with both wins by fall. He was also the No. 12 overall recruit in the class of 2022. And, while he wasn’t super active on the mat in college, Mitchell has been very active on the world stage of wrestling. In 2022, Mesenbrink took home the silver medalist honors at the U20 Worlds at 70 kg. And on his way to winning last year’s US Open, Mitchell bested fellow Nittany Lion, Levi Haines, twice to take home the title and make the world team. I think all of the Penn State fans know how good Levi is, right? According to FloWrestling, Mesenbrink received a ton of attention when he entered the transfer portal. He indicated the calls “started pouring in from head coaches around the country”. And from this point, Mitchell narrowed down his search to include the culture of each program and their “training cycles”. Mesenbrink grew up with his dad coaching him, however he currently trains at the Askren Wrestling Academy in Wisconsin where two time NCAA champion Ben Askren runs the show. During his time visiting Happy Valley, Mitchell saw right away the culture that Cael Sanderson instills in his team. He added, “They love wrestling but their only value isn’t in wrestling … they don’t place winning over everything.” Mesenbrink thinks he can be an Olympic gold medalist with the training Penn State brings to the table. As far as weight, it appears Mitchell can go at either 157 or 165. Obviously Levi Haines and Alex Facundo currently occupy those spots, but as always, time will tell when it comes to where exactly he fits it.
Penn State Wrestling took home the 2022-23 National Championship, celebrate in this officially licensed t-shirt by Nike.
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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.
