Penn State wrestling star Mitchell Mesenbrink wins prestigious award

In a sterling season for Penn State wrestling, they can add yet another prestigious achievement to their long list of accolades. Today, Mitchell Mesenbrink was announced the winner of the Dan Hodge Award, given to the nation's best collegiate wrestler. Mesenbrink will receive the award April 12 at State College.

Mesenbrink now becomes the sixth Nittany Lion to earn the award after a truly remarkable season that saw him go undefeated all the way through the regular season and NCAA tournament. In this run, he only won one match by regular decision and won nine matches against fellow All-Americans. Most impressively he dominated the fan vote as well, only missing out on a unanimous decision by four votes.

Mesenbrink's coach, Cael Sanderson, was effusive in his praise. Having won the award the award himself, he understood the journey Mesenbrink took to get to this point in his career. “We are really excited for Mitchell,” said Sanderson .

“He scored a lot of points this year. He has continued to get a lot better. Our guys come to the national tournament and there is high pressure and expectations on them.