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'26 Hodge Trophy Finalists; Fan Vote Now Open

Tom McAndrew

Tom McAndrew

BWI Staff
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Oct 27, 2021
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WIN Magazine announced the finalists for the 2026 Hodge Trophy, as well as opened the fan vote.

The finalists are:

- Luke Lilledahl (PSU)
- Jax Forrest (Oklahoma St.)
- Sergio Vega (Oklahoma St.)
- Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU)
- Levi Haines (PSU)
- Josh Barr (PSU)
- Isaac Trumble (North Carolina St.)

The fan vote is now open. You can vote once for each e-mail address. The fan voting ends on Friday, March 27, at 6 pm EDT. The winner of the fan vote receives five 1st-place votes in the voting.

To vote, go to:

www.win-magazine.com

2026 Dan Hodge Trophy Fan Vote Is Open - WIN Magazine

Fan voting has begun in the 2026 ASICS Race for the Dan Hodge Trophy. When the dust settled on the 2026 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships March 21 in Cleveland, seven of the 10 NCAA champions finished the season undefeated and are the finalists for the 2026 WIN Magazine/Culture House Dan Hodge...
www.win-magazine.com www.win-magazine.com
 
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BriantheLion

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Nov 27, 2023
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More votes for Mitchell in from our family.

Currently he leads with 68%

Two OkSt kids next around 10%each

Then Trumble at7%

Levi and Josh 4% each
Poor Luke with none

I noticed the brief paragraph listing our four, a slightly longer one for Trumble, and a LONG paragraph hyping the OkSt kids …SMH
 
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Lil Nicky Scarfo

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BriantheLion said:
More votes for Mitchell in from our family.

Currently he leads with 68%

Two OkSt kids next around 10%each

Then Trumble at7%

Levi and Josh 4% each
Poor Luke with none

I noticed the brief paragraph listing our four, a slightly longer one for Trumble, and a LONG paragraph hyping the OkSt kids …SMH
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Where is the vote total link? I saw it mentioned earlier today, but can’t find on the site
 
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WV lion

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Oct 17, 2021
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Lil Nicky Scarfo said:
Oh, I had to vote again with another email in order to see the totals. When I voted very early today, nothing was tallied yet.

Forrest is starting to separate from Vega (11-8). Mitch still at 68%.
Click to expand...
Early in the day they didn't tabulate the totals yet.
 
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BriantheLion

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Lil Nicky Scarfo said:
Where is the vote total link? I saw it mentioned earlier today, but can’t find on the site
Click to expand...
I scrolled down slightly, beyond the magazine offerings… it was there when I voted earlier this evening… someone else said it wasn’t there earlier, probably until they had a certain number of votes.

IDK if you can find it otherwise.
 
PSUbluTX

PSUbluTX

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Does the fan vote have any meaningful impact on the outcome? I know the winner gets 5 first place votes, but without knowing how many total votes are possible (and any um ... "discretionary weighting" by Win Mag), that number is kinda meaningless.

Besides, I read somewhere that Tom Ryan already had a likeness of the trophy made and awarded it to Jesse Mendez as undeniably the most deserving wrestler. To avoid any trademark issues TaTo is calling it the "Hodgepodge" award, which he explained is even more prestigious than the Hodge because it recognizes that Jesse's skills and accomplishments are so expansive that they defy conventional definition or measurement. Reportedly it's on display in the OHST room already.
 
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Tom McAndrew

Tom McAndrew

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I feel bad for Barr. In most years, if you go your entire season (with the caveat that he missed the first month or so due to injury), and bonus every match until the NCAA final (which you win), that should get you the Hodge. But Mitch nearly matched him in bonus percentage, did it for an entire season, and just looked so dominant in doing so.

Forrest had an outstanding season. He he wrestled the entire season, and maintained his dominance throughout the season, I might also have him as a legitimate candidate.

Levi and Luke, as well as Sergio, are interesting. Each is worthy of consideration. I just don't think any of them were dominant enough to be a serious candidate.

It would have been interesting to see what happened if Mendez had won his final. As WIN Mag's writeup indicated, he was considered by some a serious contender for the Hodge by many, before his loss.

Trumble was undefeated, but I just don't have him at the level of a legitimate candidate.

So with apologies to Josh Barr, I'm going to vote for Mitch.
 
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Lil Nicky Scarfo

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PSUbluTX said:
Does the fan vote have any meaningful impact on the outcome? I know the winner gets 5 first place votes, but without knowing how many total votes are possible (and any um ... "discretionary weighting" by Win Mag), that number is kinda meaningless.

Besides, I read somewhere that Tom Ryan already had a likeness of the trophy made and awarded it to Jesse Mendez as undeniably the most deserving wrestler. To avoid any trademark issues TaTo is calling it the "Hodgepodge" award, which he explained is even more prestigious than the Hodge because it recognizes that Jesse's skills and accomplishments are so expansive that they defy conventional definition or measurement. Reportedly it's on display in the OHST room already.
Click to expand...
There are only 60 total I believe - making the 5 for the fan vote ludicrous. Way too much fan influence.
 
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Michnit

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Tom McAndrew said:
WIN Magazine announced the finalists for the 2026 Hodge Trophy, as well as opened the fan vote.

The finalists are:

- Luke Lilledahl (PSU)
- Jax Forrest (Oklahoma St.)
- Sergio Vega (Oklahoma St.)
- Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU)
- Levi Haines (PSU)
- Josh Barr (PSU)
- Isaac Trumble (North Carolina St.)

The fan vote is now open. You can vote once for each e-mail address. The fan voting ends on Friday, March 27, at 6 pm EDT. The winner of the fan vote receives five 1st-place votes in the voting.

To vote, go to:

www.win-magazine.com

2026 Dan Hodge Trophy Fan Vote Is Open - WIN Magazine

Fan voting has begun in the 2026 ASICS Race for the Dan Hodge Trophy. When the dust settled on the 2026 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships March 21 in Cleveland, seven of the 10 NCAA champions finished the season undefeated and are the finalists for the 2026 WIN Magazine/Culture House Dan Hodge...
www.win-magazine.com www.win-magazine.com
Click to expand...
My vote is in
 
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HikeNatParks

HikeNatParks

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May 12, 2023
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Two more for Mitchell, but don’t see the fan vote happening. Not with the Lion hate and Jax winning a natty as a damn grade schooler (by the time the hype machine stalls out). Starting 5 back may’ve mattered. Until Saturday night.
Enter the smiling assassin. Sergio has no chance, but gave Mitchell his only one, taking out Jesse. Even small, spiteful men seeking to punish Penn State won’t be able to. Not with the next dominant wrestler being Josh. Not with the singing assassin roadkilling his Semi and Final opponents. Barring straight-up corruption, this ain’t close. Mitchell in a landslide.
Wrestling gods appeased.
 
86PSUPaul

86PSUPaul

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I voted yesterday right after Tom posted and I got the notice saying totals were hidden until 5 pm CDT. I voted again this morning with a new email and got the same notice. Are they hiding it each day and just releasing a total each evening?
 
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pabison

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Jan 9, 2007
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I count what I would consider 11 guaranteed Hodge Votes when looking at previous PSU winners minus DT’s two votes, plus Cael’s 3, plus Askren’s 2, plus Jordan Burroughs who was effusive about Messenbrink being the best wrestler in the nation. The question now is, what happens with the 18 votes from the other previous winners???
 
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Lil Nicky Scarfo

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pabison said:
I count what I would consider 11 guaranteed Hodge Votes when looking at previous PSU winners minus DT’s two votes, plus Cael’s 3, plus Askren’s 2, plus Jordan Burroughs who was effusive about Messenbrink being the best wrestler in the nation. The question now is, what happens with the 18 votes from the other previous winners???
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I think it’ll be a blowout. There is no objective metric where MM doesn’t lead
 
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McScoreley

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Surprised Mitch was so far ahead of Forrest. PSU fatigue is real and Forrest is obviously very exciting.

It should be obvious but I would be lying if I said I thought it was a slam dunk. Good sign of where things are trending.
 
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