Penn State wrestlers Luke Lilledahl, Mitchell Mesenbrink win U.S. Open titles, advance to Final X

The country’s top freestyle wrestling talent was plentiful at the U.S. Open Championships in Las Vegas this weekend, and Penn State’s current, former and future stars registered impressive showings.

Current Nittany Lions Luke Lilledahl (57kg) and Mitchell Mesenbrink (74kg) won Senior Open championships while Nittany Lion Wrestling Club members Kyle Snyder won at 97 kilos but Kyle Dake, who jumped to 86kg from 74kg, dropped his title bout

Lilledahl, third at this year’s NCAAs at 125 pounds, blanked former Nebraska wrestler Liam Cronin 10-0 in the finals after thumping Stanford’s Nico Provo 10-4 and blanking Ohio State’s Brendan McCrone 10-0.

Lilledahl advances to the Final X in June and will face Olympic silver medalist Spencer Lee, the former Iowa three-time NCAA champ from Franklin Regional, in a best-of-three series for a spot on the USA World team.

Mesenbrink, this year’s NCAA champion at 165, rolled through his final three rounds with technical falls over Jesse Dellavechia (10-0), Quincy Monday (12-1) and David Carr (16-6). Carr defeated Mesenbrink 9-8 in the 2024 NCAA finals. Mesenbrink had three takedowns and three back exposures. He’ll compete in the Final X and await the winner from the mid-May challenge tournament.

Snyder rolled through an uneventful weight class while Dake stopped Northern Iowa’s Parker Keckeisen 8-1 before losing 8-4 to former Arizona State star Zahid Valencia. Keckeisen earlier defeated Rocco Welsh 4-1; Welsh transferred to Penn State from Ohio State and will be rostered in the fall. He placed fifth overall.

Also, All-America Beau Bartlett placed fifth at 65kg, losing 4-2 to Ohio State nemesis Jesse Mendez in the semifinals. Mendez lost 3-2 to former Ohio State star Joey McKenna in the finals.

Penn State recruit Marcus Blaze made it to the 61kg semifinals but lost by fall at the 6:00 mark to veteran Seth Gross, formerly of Wisconsin. Gross lost 19-8 to Bishop McCort High School junior and Oklahoma State recruit Jax Forrest. Forrest advances to Final X to meet former Cornell star Vito Arujau.

Additionally, Trent Hidlay, the former N.C. State All-America from Mifflin County High School, won at 92kg over Aeoden Sinclair, the Missouri freshman 197-pounder.

Penn State recruits were incredibly impressive on the U-20 level as PJ Duke (70kg), Will Henckel (79kg), Connor Mirasola (92kg) and Cole Mirasola (125kg) each won titles.

Duke defeated Penn State recruit Melvin Miller of Bishop McCort 8-5 in the finals after cruising through the early rounds. Henckel downed Michigan freshman Brock Mantanona 12-8 while Connor Mirasola tripped Cody Merrill 5-1 and Cole Mirasola downed Oklahoma State recruit Dreshaun Ross 7-5 despite being taken down three times. Cole beat Iowa recruit Michael Mocco 9-6 in the semis while Connor teched out Virginia Tech’s Sonny Sasso of Nazareth in the semis.