UNIVERSITY PARK – Nittany Lion wrestler Mitchell Mesenbrink has been named a College Sports Communicators (CSC) First Team At-Large Academic All-American. The sophomore wrestler is one of 15 first team selections on the at-large team, covering all NCAA sports except soccer, football, basketball, swimming & diving, tennis, baseball, softball, and track & field/cross country.

Mesenbrink won the 2025 NCAA Championship at 165 pounds this year, capping off a perfect 27-0 season with an 8-2 win over Iowa’s Mikey Caliendo in the national finals. Mesenbrink is now a two-time All-American, two-time NCAA finalist (after advancing to the title bout in 2024) and a one-time NCAA Champion (2025). He heads into his junior season with a 55-1 overall record, including six pins, 27 technical falls and seven majors.

The Academic All-America honor is the latest accolade for Mesenbrink to cap off the 2024-25 campaign. Mesenbrink began the year earning Black Knight Invitational O.W. honors, earned Big Ten Wrestler of the Week laurels once, was the 2025 Big Ten Champion at 165 pounds, earning first team All-Big Ten honors, was an NCAA All-American and NCAA National Champion and earned the 2025 NCAA Technical Falls Award. Mesenbrink helped lead Penn State to yet another NCAA team title, its fourth straight and the 12th in the last 15 championships since head coach Cael Sanderson’s arrival at Penn State.

Mesenbrink was also a first team Academic All-Big Ten honoree. He sports a 3.92 grade point average and is a psychology major at Penn State. Mesenbrink becomes the ninth Nittany Lion wrestler to earn a total of 11 first team Academic All-America honors from CSC (formerly CoSIDA). Zain Retherford (2017), Nico Megaludis (2016), Matt Brown (2015 and 2013), David Taylor (2014), Glenn Pritzlaff (1999), Dave Hart (1993), Jim Martin (1988 and 1989), and Ken Chertow (1988). Brown (2015) and Martin (both 1988 and 1989) were named National Academic All-American of the Year as well.

2025 CSC Academic All-America – Division I – FIRST TEAM

Sport Name School Yr. GPA Major

Ice Hockey Trey Augustine Michigan State University So. 3.88 Finance

Golf Josele Ballester Arizona State Sr. 3.69 Sports Science & Performance Prog.

Gymnastics Mark Berlaga Stanford University Sr. 4.00 Human Biology

Gymnastics Matthew Burgoyne University of Oklahoma Sr. 4.00 Health & Exercise Science

Wrestling Lucas Byrd University of Illinois Gr. 3.71/3.71 Management

Gymnastics Emre Dodanli University of Oklahoma Sr. 3.72 Health & Exercise Science

Golf Pablo Ereño UCLA Sr. 3.53 Mathematics & Economics

Skiing Andreas Kirkeng University of Denver Sr. 3.99/4.00 Applied Quantitative Finance

Skiing Florian Knopf University of Denver Gr. 4.00/4.00 Applied Quantitative Finance

Skiing Will Koch University of Colorado Gr. 3.82/3.90 Business Analytics

Golf Max Lyons Marquette University Sr. 3.98 Finance

Wrestling Mitchell Mesenbrink Penn State University So. 3.92 Psychology

Ice Hockey Alex Tracy Minnesota State Jr. 3.94 Finance

Volleyball Parker Van Buren Loyola University Chicago Gr. 3.82/3.96 Accounting (U) / Business Admin.

Gymnastics Ignacio Yockers University of Oklahoma Jr. 4.00 Mathematics & Computer Science

CSC Academic All-America® Team Member of the Year: Mark Berlaga, Stanford University