Penn State’s Mitchell Mesenbrink has won the Dan Hodge Trophy as the nation’s top collegiate wrestler following a dominant 2025-26 campaign.
The redshirt junior received 66 out of 71 first-place votes, with Oklahoma State freshman Jax Forrest getting four and fellow Nittany Lion Josh Barr earning one, according to WIN Magazine, which oversees the award. He took first place in the fan vote, which accounts for five first-place votes, by taking 67.6% of the tally with 20,046 votes. The remaining 60 votes are cast by past Hodge winners, retired college coaches, national media members and representatives of each national wrestling organization.
The redshirt junior claimed the honor after going 27-0 while winning his second consecutive national title and third straight Big Ten title at 165 pounds.
One of seven undefeated, national champion finalists for the trophy — including three other Nittany Lions — Mesenbrink established himself as the nation’s most dominant wrestler with a bonus rate of 96.3%, the highest in the nation. He had eight pins, 11 tech falls, six major decisions and a win by forfeit, with his only victory by decision coming in the NCAA quarterfinals.
He was named this year’s NCAA Most Dominant Wrestler and is riding a 54-match win streak dating back to the start of the 2024-25 season. The only loss of his collegiate career to date was a one-point decision in the 2024 NCAA finals.
In addition to Mesenbrink, Barr and Forrest, the other finalists for the Hodge Trophy were Penn State’s Levi Haines and Luke Lilledahl, Oklahoma State’s Sergio Vega and NC State’s Isaac Trumble.
With Mesenbrink’s victory, six Penn State wrestlers now have won the Hodge a total of eight times. He joins Kerry McCoy (1997), David Taylor (2012, 2014), Zain Retherford (2017, 2018), Bo Nickal (2019) and Aaron Brooks (2024).
Seven of those honors came under head coach Cael Sanderson, who was the award’s only three-time winner during his undefeated career at Iowa State.
