Seniors Haines, Mendez among 330 athletes looking to make mark at 2026 NCAA DI Championships in Cleveland

Photo Gallery: 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships

Athlete & Coach Interviews: 2026 NCAA Division I Men's Wrestling Championships

330 Division I college wrestlers will enter the weekend with hopes of an individual national championship. By Saturday night, only 10 will see their hands raised after the last of their five matches of the weekend and walk out of Cleveland with the sport’s top prize.

Thursday, March 19

Session 1 – Noon p.m. (First Round) – ESPN2

Session 2 – 7 p.m. (Second Round & Consolations) – ESPN

Friday, March 20

Session 3 – Noon p.m. (Quarterfinals & Consolations) – ESPNU

Session 4 – 8 p.m. (Semifinals, Blood Round & Consolations) – ESPN2

Saturday, March 21

Session 5 – 11 a.m. (Medal Matches) – ESPNU

Session 6 – 6:30 p.m. (Finals) – ESPN

All times listed above are Eastern. Each session’s TV assignments are listed, and every bout will be streamed on ESPN+. Live scoring can be viewed on FloWrestling.

Looking over the 2026 brackets, it is no surprise that some of the most talented competitors in this year’s field have also donned the Red, White and Blue, and represented USA Wrestling on one of the four World Teams during their careers.

Across the 10 weight classes, at least 42 wrestlers have wrestled at the World Championships across the four age groups (U17, U20, U23 or Senior). They have combined for 78 World Championship appearances.

The Heavyweights lead the way, with eight different wrestlers accomplishing the honor. With six in each weight class, 125 and 197 pounds were the next highest. The lone weight class without any previous USA representation is 149 pounds.

Unfortunately, there are no first-round matchups among that group of 42, but as the tournament unfolds, there are bound to be some great bouts, some even between former USA teammates.

One of those 2025 World Team members is senior Levi Haines from Penn State. Haines secured a silver medal in his Senior World Championship debut at the 2025 World Wrestling Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.

Haines’ experience, not only competing, but preparing for the World Championships have gotten him ready for another run at a national title as he is the top seed at 174 pounds.

“It was a great opportunity just to keep getting better all summer,” said Haines. “I was always getting ready for another tournament. And through that and I just had a lot of opportunities to just get better at wrestling.

“I think I made a lot of big gains throughout the summer and got to see some cool places, meet some cool people. I’ve just been getting ready since the Senior Worlds, and just getting better from every little piece of data collected through competing.”

Haines will toe the line for one final collegiate tournament this weekend. In the press conference before the action started, he took a moment to think about comments from his head coach Cael Sanderson had recently about what Haines has meant to the Nittany Lions’ program. And possibly dropped a hint about his future plans.

“It means a lot to me,” said Haines. “It means I was doing my job, going through school. And hopefully I can repay him a little bit what he's given to me along with our other coaches.

“I’m just looking forward to hopefully being able to give back to him in some way in the future. And I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon.”

Haines is one of three current NCAA wrestlers who represented the U.S. at the 2025 Senior World Championships, and all three received top seeds this weekend. True freshmen Jax Forrest (Oklahoma State) and PJ Duke (Penn State) join Haines as top seeds at 133 and 157 pounds, respectively.

Penn State has already dominated the action this year in claiming both the 2026 Big Ten Championship and 2026 Big Ten Regular Season titles. Will they be adding their fifth straight NCAA title (and 12^th in the last 14 years) to the trophy case this weekend?

On paper, the Nittany Lions are the heavy favorites. Penn State received an incredible seven No. 1 seeds when the brackets were released: 125, 149, 157, 165, 174, 184, and 197 pounds. Two other wrestlers are in the All-American range, true freshman Marcus Blaze at #3 at 133 pounds and heavyweight Cole Mirasola at #9. Braeden Davis is the final of the 10 Penn State wrestlers, seeded 14^th at 141 pounds.

“I think it's been a good season,” said Haines. “I've seen our team progress well throughout the season. We have a lot of young guys in the lineup, and they've been taking care of business, getting better.

“It's been fun to watch those guys get better along with everybody else. And I think we're right where we need to be headed here into the national championships.”

In addition to Penn State qualifying all 10 wrestlers this year, the feat was also accomplished by Iowa State, Nebraska, Ohio State, Oklahoma State, and Virginia Tech. Meaning those six schools will account for 60 of the 330 wrestlers at the NCAA Championships this weekend.

Only one wrestler comes into the 2026 NCAA Championships looking for a third straight national championship, Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez. Not only does Mendez enter with a perfect record, but he is in the running for the Hodge Trophy after his performance up to this point.

“I made an emphasis on trying to widen the gap this year and continue to score bonus points throughout the year,” said Mendez. “Last year, I had a couple hiccups. And that was a big emphasis for me, was my performance, the way I wrestle.

“I really want to wrestle with an extreme focus and an offensive mindset for seven minutes. Just from the start of the season till now, that's been my mindset. And I look forward to carrying that into the tournament.”

Being a two-time champion, Mendez has enjoyed much success at his previous NCAA trips. As a freshman in 2023, he started as the 14^th seed but finished sixth for All-American honors. In 2024, he was the top seed for the first time, and last year was the third. Entering this year, he is 15-3 all-time in matches at the NCAA Championships.

“It's been a really fun season, I'm excited to cap my career off in Cleveland,” said Mendez. 

Five of the 10 national champions from last year are vying to repeat their 2025 performance in Cleveland this weekend.

125: Vince Robinson (NC State) – He won the title last year as a redshirt-freshman and will be looking to become the first at 125 pounds to go back-to-back since Iowa’s Spencer Lee won three in a row (2021, 2019, 2018). *-COVID cancelled the 2020 tournament.

133: Lucas Byrd (Illinois) – In his final campaign, Byrd will be looking to become the third straight wrestler to win back-to-back titles at 133 pounds. Penn State’s Roman Bravo-Young won in 2021 and 2022, and he was followed by Cornell’s Vito Arujau’s two titles in 2023 and 2024.

141: Jesse Mendez (Ohio State) – The 2026 Big Ten Wrestler of the Year, will be looking to close out his career with a third straight NCAA title. He was the fourth wrestler in the last nine years to win back-to-back titles last year.

157: Antrell Taylor (Nebraska) – Starting as the second seed this year, defending champion Taylor will look to become the first back-to-back winner at 157 pounds since Penn State’s Jason Nolf won three in a row (2019, 2018, 2017).

165: Mitchell Mesenbrink (Penn State) – One of the Hodge Trophy favorites entering NCAAs, Mesenbrink will be attempting his third trip to the NCAA finals in as many attempts. In fact, his lone collegiate loss was in the 2024 NCAA final, as he took top honors last year.

In addition, Levin Haines is attempting to win his second national title as well, as he won the 157-pound bracket back in 2024 before moving up to 174 last year.

The NCAA Championships are back in Cleveland for the first time since 2018.

Ohio’s Sal Perrine is one of the 36 Ohio natives to be in action this weekend. The senior has been to the NCAA Championships twice before, but Cleveland is where he grew up and he is looking forward to being able to compete in his home state in the final college action of his career.

“I'm excited to represent Ohio and here in my hometown and rep it,” said Perrine. “Plan to have a better ending this weekend.

“I grew up 20 minutes away. I've been in this arena a lot. Having the opportunity to represent where I came from, just going to mean the world to me for one last time.”

Ohio State head coach Tom Ryan emphasized the importance of having the biggest tournament of the year back in the state where he coaches.

“It's great to be in Cleveland, a hotbed of wrestling as we know,” said Ryan. “The sport is deeply rooted in the culture of the state. There's (three) Division I programs, we've got four native Buckeyes in our starting lineup. There are 491 high schools that offer wrestling in this state. I believe there's 36 student-athletes of the 330 that have qualified for the event that are Ohio native. It's deeply rooted in the state here.”