Penn State wrestling U23 Worlds results: Mitchell Mesenbrink wins gold, Barr MFFs, 2 Lions will go for gold Sunday

Mitchell Mesenbrink is a U23 World champion. The Penn State wrestler cruised to a gold medal in the 74-kilogram bracket on Saturday in Serbia. He needed less than three minutes (2:59, to be exact) to take out Turkey’s Muhammed Ozmus by technical fall, 12-2, to win his first title in this International age group. He previously won U20 gold and also won bronze at last year’s U23 event. Mesenbrink finishes his time in Serbia with a 5-0 mark. After securing a fall in his qualification round bout, he won three of his other four matches early via technical falls. He also beat World champ Yoshinosuke Aoyagi of Japan 7-4 with a last-second takedown in the semifinals.

Mesenbrink will man the 165-pound starting spot for Cael Sanderson’s Nittany Lions this year. He is the reigning NCAA champ. His teammate, Josh Barr, is a returning All-American and is in line to start at 197 pounds. But his health status is uncertain after U23s. The Michigan native lost in Friday’s quarterfinal round at 92 kilograms. Near the end of an eventual 13-3 loss to  Iran’s Mohammad Mobin Azimi, the Penn State standout seemingly signaled for an injury stoppage but was not given it. He was very slow to exit the mat. Then, on Saturday, he medically forfeited out of the repechage tournament that determines the third place winner. USA Wrestling did not release any additional information about his status.

Two Penn State wrestlers will go for gold on Sunday

Three Penn State wrestlers started their time at the U23 Championships on Saturday. Two will go for gold on Sunday. The other will wrestle for bronze.

Penn State sophomore Luke Lilledahl is in the 57-kilogram finals. He won his first two matches of the day handily before beating U23 Russian champ Aiandai Ondar of UWW 7-1 in the semifinals. That win earns him a first place match date around Noon ET tomorrow with Yuta Kikuchi of Japan.

Nittany Lions junior Levi Haines is in the 79-kilogram finals. He beat defending champ Mahdi Yousefihajivar of Iran 7-0 in Round 1. Then, he won his quarterfinal by technical fall before beating UWW athlete Davud Daudov 11-4 in the semifinals. His Sunday gold medal match is against Turkey’s Ibrahim Yaprak.

Last but not least, Penn State freshman PJ Duke will wrestle for 70-kilogram bronze on Sunday. He won his first three matches by a combined score of 26-1 before losing to multi-time medalist Kanan Heybatov of Azerbaijan by technical fall in the semifinals. His third place match opponent will be determined Sunday morning.

Final Nittany Lions start their tournament on Sunday

Penn State freshman Marcus Blaze and newcomer Rocco Welsh kick off their tournament on Sunday. You can review our pre-tournament predictions for both below:

Nittany Lions freshman Marcus Blaze (65 kilograms)

First match: Bilol Sharip Uulu of Kyrgyzstan in the qualification round

Prediction: Blaze did not get the easiest opening opponent imaginable. Uulu is a 2024 U23 bronze medalist at this weight and U17 silver medalist at 60 kilograms. His past success and the fact that Blaze is bumping up in weight make him an underdog here. The winner gets U20 fifth-place finisher Nikolov Beshidze of Georgia. And, multi-time age group medalist and 2022 U20 gold winner Umidjon Jalolov of Uzbekistan likely awaits someone from Blaze’s side of the bracket in the semis.

Getting pulled into repechage may be the best path Blaze has to a medal in the end. You count against him at your own risk. But, I have him outside the top three to start.

Penn State redshirt sophomore Rocco Welsh (86 kilograms)

First match: Aaron Ayzerov of Iarael

Prediction: Ayzerov finished eighth at U23 Worlds. That gives him an advantage over Welsh in terms of International competition. The new Nittany Lion is competing at his first world championship. If he gets by Ayzerov, who wrestles collegiately for Columbia, there is likely going to be someone who trips him up before the semis. A bronze looks to be the best-case result. But, I predict Welsh to be off the medal stand.