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Penn State Wrestling

Cal Baptist Transfer Mitchell Mesenbrink Commits to Penn State

Penn State wrestling is looking to win another national championship
Photo by Penn State Athletics: Cael Sanderson

Penn State wrestling has added itโ€™s second transfer commitment in the past week in Mitchell Mesenbrink, formerly of Cal Baptist.

Mesenbrink will be in his second year of eligibility.

He wrestled two matches for Cal Baptist this season at 165 pounds and won both.

Although Mesenbrink didnโ€™t get to show much at Cal Baptist this past seasonโ€” he announced his plans to transfer at the beginning of 2023โ€“ he was a decorated high school talent. He won two state championships out of Arrowhead High School in Wisconsin, and was a Fargo All-American. At the U20 world championships in 2022, he won a silver medal, and was also the top dog at Pre-Season Nationals, recruiting showcase nationals and USA Folkstyle nationals.

At the start of this calendar year, Mesenbrink said he intended to enter the portal, telling FloWrestling that Cal Baptist โ€œwasnโ€™t what I expected.โ€

โ€œ(Entering the transfer portal) is a (recruiting) re-do,โ€ Mesenbrink said. โ€œAnd Iโ€™m going to make it count for sure.โ€

Mesenbrink will be looking to make it count at wrestlingโ€™s top program. Penn Stateโ€™s won 10 national titles in 12 years under coach Cael Sanderson, the most recent coming this past March. Penn State added Cal Polyโ€™s Bernie Truax, a three-time All-American, earlier this week.

Mesenbrinkโ€™s generally thought to be in the 157-pound weight class. But Penn State has national runner-up and national Freshman of the Year Levi Haines in that spot, so the team is probably set for next season there. As mentioned earlier, ย Mesenbrink wrestled at 165 for Cal Poly, but Penn State seems to be in good hands there, too, with national qualifier Alex Facundo set to enter his redshirt sophomore season.

Penn State could be losing three-time national champions Carter Starocci (174) and Aaron Brooks (184). This could end up leading to Haines and Facundo moving up in weight, thus making room for Mesenbrink.

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