Penn State wrestling in NCAA Championships: What makes Mitchell Mesenbrink so dominant?
There was a time when the nation's most relentless, fast-attacking, high-scoring wrestling machine was quietly trying to find his way far from home.
Mitchell Mesenbrink was a hard-working, late-rising wrestler who wanted to become an orthodontist one day. He was good enough to win Wisconsin state championships but not to win over the nation's top college programs.
He certainly didn't cut a dominating image back then − or, still, even now. Not with his glasses, mop of curly, brown hair and ordinary build. Not the 4.0 student who plays the piano, the guitar and sings when he has the time and place.
He's one of the national title favorites in this week's NCAA Championships in Philadelphia?
"Yeah, he doesn't look scary," his mother, Bernadette Mesenbrink, said with a laugh.
Rather, he was another kid who loved Penn State wrestling, who could roll off the names of its national champion heroes he grew up watching, but wasn't ready for it himself.
So what would he do coming out of high school? He thought best to accept a scholarship to faraway California Baptist University, to keep wrestling and faith-grounded and to provide a more financially feasible path to dental school.
It would prove to be a time for recalibrating, growing and finally flourishing. He studied dutifully and practiced even harder in Riverside, California and began to reach another level on the mat.
He had just broken through on the international tournament scene, which not only boosted his confidence and drive but also suddenly made him a priority to the college programs who didn't recruit him hard the first time around.
His I-can-be-a-little-better-every-day-approach, fostered by his wrestling coach father and finance-career mother, began paying off even more than he could imagine.
Penn State wrestling: Who saw Mitchell Mesenbrink starring like this?
Mesenbrink recently talked about the time, a couple of years ago now, when he realized his boyhood-idol Nittany Lions and coach Cael Sanderson truly wanted him.
He was on a visit to Penn State in early 2023 − just after his redshirt season at Cal-Baptist − to decide whether to transfer across the country. He quickly bonded with future teammate Levi Haines and felt like this was the place where he could truly take off.
"I sat on the bleachers before one of the practices. (Haines) talked to me before they all went out and wrestled and I was just watching, and it was his humility and everything.
"We had wrestled a little bit prior to that, and the way he could be a mature adult about it, and still be a good man and kind to me, and saying we really want you here ... He was kind of the one who put the nail in the coffin, like 'Yeah, I’m coming here.'"
Mesenbrink, now a Penn State psychology major, is described as a "deep thinker" by his parents, one who loved to build Legos and solve puzzles, who "likes to understand the 'Why?' of everything around him.
So when he wanted to do nothing more than wrestle as fast and as hard as possible, he became fixated on how to do that better. He was not dissuaded while his breakthroughs took longer than hoped.
Even as a kid, "in practice, the objective was to go out and give everything you got, and if you lose, we'll see what mistakes you made," said his father, John Mesenbrink, who wrestled in college and now runs a wrestling training academy.
"Mitchell would be the first to say, 'I lost because I was overly aggressive. I was too far away, I needed a better set-up, I needed a better finish.' He was relentless. He was always super locked-in on what had to do to fix it. That was every day in practice."
Why they call Mitchell Mesenbrink 'The Missile'
That never-stop style on the mat became a trademark during his PSU introduction last year − causing Sanderson to call him "The Missile." He doesn't so much appear to overpower opponents as much as overwhelm them, tying them up in lightning-fast, never-ending knots.
He quickly earned a starting spot at 165 pounds and kept blitzing one older, Top 10 opponent after another on his way to Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors.
He stormed to the NCAA Championships finals in Kansas City, fueled by three more lopsided victories − before losing the title match by a single, frustrating point.
That would just provide him with more fuel, more puzzle-pieces to figure out.
He responded with an inspiring performance at the U.S. Olympic Trials last April, losing only to gold medalist Jordan Burroughs and making the national team.
He continued to refine his techniques and approach and set himself up for an even more dominant second season at Penn State. One in which he just led the nation in technical falls − allowing only two of his regular-season matches to even go the distance. He didn't yield a single takedown until the Big Ten Championships, then promptly tech-falled the opponent who broke his streak.
He's one of the leading candidates for the Hodge Trophy, awarded to the nation's top wrestler.
And he's undefeated, yet again, heading to the NCAA Championships, in front of Penn State's home state fans in the Wells Fargo Center.
One of the fastest, most furious, feel-good wrestlers in the entire tournament.
This time, the one expected to win a national title.
Frank Bodani covers Penn State wrestling for the York Daily Record and USA Today Network. Contact him at fbodani@ydr.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @YDRPennState.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Penn State wrestling: Mitchell Mesenbrink, NCAA Championships star?
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