Penn State Wrestling: Redshirt Freshman Wins U20 World Championship

A Penn State wrestling redshirt freshman is an U20 world champion.

Mitchell Mesenbrink, who transferred to Penn State wrestling this spring after a season at Cal Baptist, went 5-0 at the UWW World Championships, the final match being a 16-5 tech fall over Iran’s Hossein Mohammed Aghaei in the 74kg class.

🏆Nittany Lion redshirt freshman Mitchell Mesenbrink is the UWW U20 World Champion at 74kg! //

🔥Mesenbrink with the 16-5 tech over Aghaei of Iran in the finals! //

👀Mitchell went 5-0 with 5 Tech Falls, outscoring foes 59-6 at the event!#PSUwr pic.twitter.com/TInD0yglBD

— Penn State WRESTLING (@pennstateWREST) August 16, 2023

The five points Aghaei managed were four more than Mesenbrink’s other four opponents managed collectively. He won his matches by a total of 59-6.

Mesenbrink also competed at this event last year, where he wrestled at the 74KG class and finished in second place before starting his college career.

Mesenbrink has the potential to be a big time performer for Penn State this season, with his most likely spot being in either the 165-pound weight class, where Penn State also has reigning national qualifier Alex Facundo, or at 157, where Levi Haines was a Big Ten champion and national runner-up as a true freshman last season.

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Although Mesenbrink didn’t get to show much at Cal Baptist this past season— he announced his plans to transfer at the beginning of 2023– 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 “wasn’t what I expected.”

“(Entering the transfer portal) is a (recruiting) re-do,” Mesenbrink said. “And I’m going to make it count for sure.”