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Arrowhead High School alumnus Mitchell Mesenbrink learned from a Hodge Trophy winner and now has one for himself.
The Penn State national champion was awarded the Dan Hodge Trophy, acknowledging the nation's best wrestler, a little more than a week after winning his second NCAA title.
Mesenbrink became the sixth Penn State wrestler to win the award, and he did so in a landslide with 61 of the possible 65 first-place votes from a committee of retired coaches, media members, past winners and heads of national wrestling organizations. Wrestlers are chosen based on record, dominance (including the accumulation of bonus points), quality of competition and sportsmanship.
A redshirt junior, Mesenbrink went 27-0 with eight pins, 11 tech falls and six major decisions. Two of those tech falls came in the NCAA semifinal win over Columbia's Cesar Alvan and the title win over Iowa's Michael Caliendo. Mesenbrink won 17 times over wrestlers that qualified for the 2026 NCAA Championships, including nine against All-Americans at 165 pounds.
He also joins a growing fraternity of Wisconsinites to win the Hodge, consisting of Port Washington's Alex Dieringer of Oklahoma State in 2016 and Arrowhead's Ben Askren of Missouri in 2007 and 2006.
Askren established the Askren Wrestling Academy in Hartland, joined by brother Max (also a national champion) and Mitchell's father, John, the longtime head wrestling coach at Arrowhead. Naturally, it's a place where Mitchell trained during his days in Wisconsin, when he also won three WIAA state titles at Arrowhead.
The award has been handed out since 1995.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Arrowhead alum Mitchell Mesenbrink named NCAA's best wrestler
Continue reading...
The Penn State national champion was awarded the Dan Hodge Trophy, acknowledging the nation's best wrestler, a little more than a week after winning his second NCAA title.
Mesenbrink became the sixth Penn State wrestler to win the award, and he did so in a landslide with 61 of the possible 65 first-place votes from a committee of retired coaches, media members, past winners and heads of national wrestling organizations. Wrestlers are chosen based on record, dominance (including the accumulation of bonus points), quality of competition and sportsmanship.
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A redshirt junior, Mesenbrink went 27-0 with eight pins, 11 tech falls and six major decisions. Two of those tech falls came in the NCAA semifinal win over Columbia's Cesar Alvan and the title win over Iowa's Michael Caliendo. Mesenbrink won 17 times over wrestlers that qualified for the 2026 NCAA Championships, including nine against All-Americans at 165 pounds.
He also joins a growing fraternity of Wisconsinites to win the Hodge, consisting of Port Washington's Alex Dieringer of Oklahoma State in 2016 and Arrowhead's Ben Askren of Missouri in 2007 and 2006.
Askren established the Askren Wrestling Academy in Hartland, joined by brother Max (also a national champion) and Mitchell's father, John, the longtime head wrestling coach at Arrowhead. Naturally, it's a place where Mitchell trained during his days in Wisconsin, when he also won three WIAA state titles at Arrowhead.
The award has been handed out since 1995.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Arrowhead alum Mitchell Mesenbrink named NCAA's best wrestler
Continue reading...
