Penn State wrestling fans may have wondered why Mitchell Mesenbrink has been up to over the past few months, because the freestyle circuit wasn’t part of it.
One would think that the best folkstyle wrestler in the country– two straight national titles, 54 straight wins and a near-unanimous Hodge Trophy win— would be pursuing freestyle over the summer.
But Mesenbrink didn’t compete in the U.S. Open and thus didn’t get a chance to wrestle at Final X for a spot on the Senior World Team.
In an interview with Justin Basch of the Baschamania Podcast, Mesenrbink said that he just needed time off.
“I honestly, in full transparency, I had known that I could feel that some kind of like switch probably earlier in the fall, where I could feel like something was really off,” Mesenbrink said.
“And I felt like it was maybe more my emotionality had given, or the things those agreements like I said, had given, those foundational principles have kind of gotten pulled out. Hence the heartbreak of what wrestling was.”
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Mesenbrink said he needed a break, going back possibly as far back as before last year’s Final X, when he fell to David Carr.
All Mesenbrink did since then was put together the best season of his life.
He then mentioned a quote that he’s fond of.
“You worry too much for someone that’s figured it out every single time,” he said. “The plan and the life they are living today is the culmination of the actions you’ve chosen, and it’s meant to be where you are today.”
