Penn State wrestling star Mitchell Mesenbrink has done everything there is to do at the college level.
All-American? You bet.
Big Ten champ? Darn right.
NCAA finalist? Of course.
NCAA champ? Twice.
The one thing that Mesenbrink hasn’t done is win wrestling’s most prestigious individual honor.
The Hodge Trophy is to wrestling what the Heisman is to football.
If you are deemed the best wrestler in the country, you win the Hodge.
Mesenbrink was a finalist for the award last year, when he went 27-0 and won his first national title.
This season, he matched that 27-0 record with 26 wins being of the bonus point variety.
After win 27, Mesenbrink asked about what winning the Hodge would mean to him.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.WHAT MESENBRINK SAID
“I think it’s just a summation of, like I said, the mind, body and spirit of soul that the put into their craft and what they do. At the same time, the Hodge I think is a… I like wrestling because, for the most part, I can keep pretty much everyone else’s opinion out of it.”
“With the Hodge, it’s such an opinionated thing. At the end of the day, it’s such a futile kind of thing that people vote on. I’m not going to put my hope or well-being into something that people are going to vote (on) or think about. So it’s a cool thing. It’s the kind of thing that… it’s interesting, because com Sunday night, Monday night, or even when they count the Hodge Trophy (votes), they’re going to be talking about who’s going to get it the next time. It’s just like, we’re talking about things that come in go. It’s like dust.”
To illustrate his point, Mesenbrink told a story about Ben Askren.
Askren won two Hodge trophies wrestling for the University of Missouri, now runs the Askren Wrestling Academy in Wisconsin, where Mesenbrink once trained.
Mesenbrink described how one of Askren’s Hodge Trophies, which is on display, now has its arms snapped off of it because of the little kids that play with it.
“I think that’s a very good representation of what trophies do,” Mesenbrink said. “They just sit, wear and collect dust.”
MESENBRINK’S CHANCES
Trophies do collect dust, but it’s probably a safe bet that Mesenbrink would rather the dust be his. Before the NCAA Championships, the Hodge race appeared to be between Mesenbrink (165), Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez (141) and Mesenbrink’s teammate Josh Barr (197). But Mendez lost his national title bout to Oklahoma State’s Sergio Vega, thus ending his Hodge hopes.
Barr did his thing at the national championships, capping a perfect 24-0 season with five wins (four via bonus point).
So now, the question is which Penn Stater will win wrestling’s most prestigious honor.
