CLEVELAND, Ohio — In the opening bout of the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships finals, Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez had a chance to add the final piece to what has been a Hodge Trophy-caliber season.
During his semifinal press conference, I asked Mendez how Penn State fans should view the four-time All-American and two-time national champion. Mendez said he was a lot like Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink, who has dominated at 165 pounds throughout the 2025-26 season.
But unless Mesenbrink loses to Iowa’s Mikey Caliendo in Saturday night’s 165-pound final, the two will not be comparable from a resume standpoint.
Oklahoma State’s Sergio Vega defeated Mendez 4-1 in sudden victory, securing the winning takedown with 22 seconds remaining in the sudden victory overtime.
After a scoreless opening period, the bout remained even throughout the second period until Vega got a key escape midway through the period.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.In the third period, Mendez knotted it up at 1 .
As the sudden victory overtime commenced, Vega began to assert himself in a way that Mendez couldn’t counter leading to the takedown that gave the Oklahoma State freshman his first national championship.
Oklahoma State now has 123 points and while they cannot mathematically catch Penn State, it will be interesting to see how they do with their three other national finalists.
For Mesenbrink a win tonight should begin to distance himself in the Hodge Trophy race.
