Mitchell Mesenbrink

Mitchell Owen Mesenbrink (born 2003) is an American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler who competes at 74 kilograms. In freestyle, he claimed a gold medal at the U20 World Championships in 2023 and a silver medal in 2022.

In folkstyle, he is an NCAA Division I National finalist and Big Ten Conference champion for the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Early life
Born in Hartland, Wisconsin, Mesenbrink started wrestling at a young age, following the footsteps of his father, John Mesenbrink, a former wrestler at Drake University. Mesenbrink attended Arrowhead High School, where he became a three-time WIAA state champion and broke into the national high school rankings. Before his senior season, he committed to wrestle for California Baptist University.

In freestyle, Mesenbrink claimed a silver medal from the U20 World Championships and a gold medal from the U20 Pan American Championships and U20 US National Championships in 2022, at 70 kilograms.

2022–2023
Mesenbrink started off the season at 2–0, however, he then decided to enter the transfer portal and moved back to Wisconsin, closing out his freshman year. In April 2023, he committed to the Penn State Nittany Lions.

2023–2024
Before the folkstyle season started, Mesenbrink made the jump up to 74 kilograms and repeated as U20 US National champion and U20 Pan American Champion before competing at the U20 World Championships. He once again reached the finals of the tournament, and this time became the U20 World champion at 74 kilograms.

Starting at 165 pounds, Mesenbrink claimed titles at the Journeymen Classic and Black Knight Invitational, and racked up an undefeated 12–0 dual meet record during regular season. At the Big Ten Championships, Mesenbrink claimed his first title with a come-from-behind victory over two-time All-American Dean Hamiti. At the NCAA tournament, Mesenbrink defeated All-Americans Cam Amine and Michael Caliendo in rematches, to make the finals, where he fell to NCAA champion David Carr to take runner-up honors.

In April, Mesenbrink made his senior level debut at the US Olympic Team Trials, where after a win over U17 World champion Ladarion Lockett, he fell to seven-time Olympic and World champion Jordan Burroughs in the semifinals. He then came back for third-place with wins over US National champion Quincy Monday and Jarrett Jacques, making the US National team.

Freestyle record
! colspan="7"| Senior Freestyle Matches ! Res. !  Record ! Opponent ! Score ! Date ! Event ! Location ! style=background:white colspan=7 |2024 US Olympic Team Trials at 74 kg 🇺🇸 State College, Pennsylvania
 * Win
 * 3–1
 * align=left|🇺🇸 Jarrett Jacques
 * style="font-size:88%"|TF 10–0
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|April 19–20, 2024
 * style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|2024 US Olympic Team Trials
 * style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4|
 * style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4|
 * Win
 * 2–1
 * align=left|🇺🇸 Quincy Monday
 * style="font-size:88%"|TF 12–1
 * Loss
 * 1–1
 * align=left|🇺🇸 Jordan Burroughs
 * style="font-size:88%"|3–8
 * Win
 * 1–0
 * align=left|🇺🇸 Ladarion Lockett
 * style="font-size:88%"|TF 13–3
 * 1–0
 * align=left|🇺🇸 Ladarion Lockett
 * style="font-size:88%"|TF 13–3