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CLEVELAND — There's plenty to learn from a loss that you can't learn from a win. Ohio State senior 141-pound wrestler Jesse Mendez would even agree with you there.
"No, definitely," Mendez said told the Beacon Journal March 19. "But I mean, you could learn from everything. You could go win everything and still find ways to get better, find places where you can do better. And I'm big on not being complacent, but yeah, I think the losses is more like a mixture of like, yeah, you did things wrong and you're a little butt hurt. You just took a loss and it's back to the lab, you put your head down, you go do the work. So that's something I've tried to work on is staying in that mindset even when you're not losing."
It's just that Mendez has gone a long time since he knows what those losing lessons are like. He was speaking after he improved his record to 24-0 affter a 22-6 tech fall of Navy's Caedyn Ricciardi in the round of 16 at the 2026 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships inside Rocket Arena.
The win was the two-time NCAA champion Mendez's 29th in a row, dating back to a March 9, 2025, loss to Penn State's Beau Bartlett in the third-place match of the Big Ten Championships. Meanwhile, and maybe even bigger, it's his 12th consecutive win in the NCAA tournament, dating back to a March 18, 2023, loss to Minnesota's Aaron Nagao as a freshman in the 133-pound fifth-place match.
In other words, Mendez has had to work to stay in that mindset. The problem for the rest of his competition is that it's not hard work at all for a wrestler who has found something in his game to fix over the last month of his collegiate career.
"Just knowing it doesn't have to be close," Mendez said. "Like on paper, it may seem like it's going to be close, but the seeds, the numbers, how these brackets fall out don't matter. You just got to win wrestling matches. So not letting the predictions or whatever, it may be halt you from doing something bigger than that. So you know whether something's on paper or not, I want to do better than that.
Mendez didn't even need that much fixing there, to be honest. Of his 22 wins coming into the NCAA tournament, only three have been by regular decision: A 7-2 win over Nebraska's Brock Hardy in the 141-pound title match in the Big Ten Championships on March 8; a 5-1 win over Iowa State's Anthony Enchemendia in a dual match on Dec. 21; and a 4-1 win ocer Hardy in a dual match on Nov. 16.
The rest have been anything but close. He opened the tournament with a pin of Appalachian State's Aldo Hernandez in 2:14, then came back and jumped out to a 16-4 first-period lead over Ricciardi behind four takdewns and four near-fall points.
Through two matches in Cleveland, Mendez has recorded 10 takedowns, while his opponents have yet to score anything other than escape points on him. Which is despite dealing with some natural butterflies in the belly, he admits.
"It helps a lot getting through that first day," Mendez said. "You get the pre-NCAA jitters out. When you come into a tournament like this, you're going to have some jitters, going to be a little nervous. So getting to those first couple matches and not letting the nerves stop you and slow you down. So being able to open up when your mind's telling you to slow down is big, especially building momentum for those later matches when it's going to be a little bit tighter matches, but you still have to blow it open. So getting the jitters out early and keeping your foot on the gas is huge."
Next up for Mendez: Minnesota's No. 8-seeded Vance Vombaur (23-6) in the quarterfinals in the March 20 afternoon session. In two meetings this season, he's won by a 14-5 major decision in his second match of the season back on Nov. 15 and a 21-5 tech fall on Jan. 23.
That would put Mendez two wins away from becoming only the third Buckeye wrestler to win three or more national titles. Logan Steiber, whose now one of Ohio State's assistants and typically is with Mendez during his matches, is a four-time champ, while Kyle Snyder won his third national title the last time the tournament was in Cleveland in 2018.
Not that any of that was on Mendez's mind as he worked to shed a few pounds on the stationary bike minutes after dispatching of Ricciardi.
"I kind of just break it up into matches, honestly," Mendez said. "This tournament's so damn hard that you can't look forward. So there's always guys trying to figure out who they're going to see in the quarters or the semis and it's like, these brackets never play out by the seeds. So it's taking it one match at a time and whoever toes the line in front of me, that's who I'm wrestling."
It was a lesson Mendez didn't need a loss to teach him. He learned it just fine all while stacking wins on top of wins.
Chris Easterling can be reached at [email protected]. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: OSU's Jesse Mendez not complacent over quest for 3rd NCAA wrestling title
Continue reading...
"No, definitely," Mendez said told the Beacon Journal March 19. "But I mean, you could learn from everything. You could go win everything and still find ways to get better, find places where you can do better. And I'm big on not being complacent, but yeah, I think the losses is more like a mixture of like, yeah, you did things wrong and you're a little butt hurt. You just took a loss and it's back to the lab, you put your head down, you go do the work. So that's something I've tried to work on is staying in that mindset even when you're not losing."
It's just that Mendez has gone a long time since he knows what those losing lessons are like. He was speaking after he improved his record to 24-0 affter a 22-6 tech fall of Navy's Caedyn Ricciardi in the round of 16 at the 2026 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships inside Rocket Arena.
The win was the two-time NCAA champion Mendez's 29th in a row, dating back to a March 9, 2025, loss to Penn State's Beau Bartlett in the third-place match of the Big Ten Championships. Meanwhile, and maybe even bigger, it's his 12th consecutive win in the NCAA tournament, dating back to a March 18, 2023, loss to Minnesota's Aaron Nagao as a freshman in the 133-pound fifth-place match.
In other words, Mendez has had to work to stay in that mindset. The problem for the rest of his competition is that it's not hard work at all for a wrestler who has found something in his game to fix over the last month of his collegiate career.
"Just knowing it doesn't have to be close," Mendez said. "Like on paper, it may seem like it's going to be close, but the seeds, the numbers, how these brackets fall out don't matter. You just got to win wrestling matches. So not letting the predictions or whatever, it may be halt you from doing something bigger than that. So you know whether something's on paper or not, I want to do better than that.
Mendez didn't even need that much fixing there, to be honest. Of his 22 wins coming into the NCAA tournament, only three have been by regular decision: A 7-2 win over Nebraska's Brock Hardy in the 141-pound title match in the Big Ten Championships on March 8; a 5-1 win over Iowa State's Anthony Enchemendia in a dual match on Dec. 21; and a 4-1 win ocer Hardy in a dual match on Nov. 16.
The rest have been anything but close. He opened the tournament with a pin of Appalachian State's Aldo Hernandez in 2:14, then came back and jumped out to a 16-4 first-period lead over Ricciardi behind four takdewns and four near-fall points.
Through two matches in Cleveland, Mendez has recorded 10 takedowns, while his opponents have yet to score anything other than escape points on him. Which is despite dealing with some natural butterflies in the belly, he admits.
"It helps a lot getting through that first day," Mendez said. "You get the pre-NCAA jitters out. When you come into a tournament like this, you're going to have some jitters, going to be a little nervous. So getting to those first couple matches and not letting the nerves stop you and slow you down. So being able to open up when your mind's telling you to slow down is big, especially building momentum for those later matches when it's going to be a little bit tighter matches, but you still have to blow it open. So getting the jitters out early and keeping your foot on the gas is huge."
Next up for Mendez: Minnesota's No. 8-seeded Vance Vombaur (23-6) in the quarterfinals in the March 20 afternoon session. In two meetings this season, he's won by a 14-5 major decision in his second match of the season back on Nov. 15 and a 21-5 tech fall on Jan. 23.
That would put Mendez two wins away from becoming only the third Buckeye wrestler to win three or more national titles. Logan Steiber, whose now one of Ohio State's assistants and typically is with Mendez during his matches, is a four-time champ, while Kyle Snyder won his third national title the last time the tournament was in Cleveland in 2018.
Not that any of that was on Mendez's mind as he worked to shed a few pounds on the stationary bike minutes after dispatching of Ricciardi.
"I kind of just break it up into matches, honestly," Mendez said. "This tournament's so damn hard that you can't look forward. So there's always guys trying to figure out who they're going to see in the quarters or the semis and it's like, these brackets never play out by the seeds. So it's taking it one match at a time and whoever toes the line in front of me, that's who I'm wrestling."
It was a lesson Mendez didn't need a loss to teach him. He learned it just fine all while stacking wins on top of wins.
Chris Easterling can be reached at [email protected]. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: OSU's Jesse Mendez not complacent over quest for 3rd NCAA wrestling title
Continue reading...
