Hungry for More: WIN’s NCAA Champion Feature on Jesse Mendez

Editor’s Note: This NCAA champion feature appeared in WIN’s Volume 31 Issue 7 NCAA Commemorative Issue that was printed on April 9, 2025. Subscribe here or call 1-888-305-0606 for instant digital access to read all 10 NCAA DI champion features. 

By Tristan Warner

Ohio State’s Jesse Mendez was just moments removed from capturing his first national title at the 2024 NCAA DI Wrestling Championships in Kansas City when, with a camera in his face, he declared that he was on a hunt for the 2025 Dan Hodge Trophy. He insisted that he wasn’t satisfied with just winning and wanted to dominate his opponents.

The 2024-25 season started off as he had imagined, presumably, as the defending champ got off to a fast start, racking up a 23-0 record with 16 bonus-point victories heading into February.

Firmly entrenched as a Hodge Trophy contender at that point, the Crown Point, Ind. native suffered his first loss of the season on Feb. 14 in Columbus at the hands of longtime nemesis Beau Bartlett from Penn State.

He would go on to suffer another setback in the Big Ten semis at the hands of Nebraska’s Brock Hardy in a 9-8 thriller before losing to Bartlett again for third place.

This was not the path he had dreamt up for himself on his journey to try to capture a second national title, but the Buckeye junior insisted his mind was clear and his mentality never wavered despite the adversity he faced.

“I’d say it’s hard to repeat,” Mendez stated. “I think guys become complacent once they win that first one. You reach that milestone and you kind of become complacent, figuring there’s a target on your back. That didn’t happen to me. I stayed super focused. I had a mindset that I was hunting, not being hunted. But I took some bumps in the road.”

It was two days after the Big Ten Championship and Mendez’ fourth-place finish that he saw a quote that resonated with him. The message was clear. It was time to block out all the noise and dial in for another title run, completely disregarding any in-season loss he might have sustained.

“I got fourth at my own conference, and that led a lot of people to doubt me. But I saw a quote that said, ‘why seek validation from a world that crucified a perfect man?’ That stuck with me, and I stopped wrestling for the spectators and started wrestling for the people who pour into me and for myself.”

Those people would include, among others, his family, first and foremost. Mendez acknowledged becoming an NCAA champion would have been merely a pipe dream without them.

“Those are my biggest supporters; they are my ‘ride or dies.’ The amount of sacrifices that my family has made for me, I would never be able to repay it. I’m sitting here because of them. This isn’t a one-man army. I have a lot of people behind me.”

Mendez also credited his family for the tenacity he carries with him each time he steps on the mat. It was bestowed upon him at a young age and separates him from other highly skilled wrestlers standing in the way of his goals.

“I would say work ethic. My guys over at RWA, they’re the ones that instilled this tough work ethic in me, and my parents. I’m gritty and I’m technical. I’m not going to give up, no matter what.

“There is no task too tall. I just put my head down, and I go do it, no matter what it is … who is tougher, basically, who wants it more? That’s kind of how it is; you got to hustle.”

That mindset was never more apparent than in this year’s national final, when Mendez found himself in a 5-0 hole in the first period after Nebraska’s Brock Hardy secured a takedown and two nearfall points on the sport’s biggest stage.

Mendez showed palpable poise, however, clawing his way back and scoring a clutch takedown with just five seconds left in the first period before adding a takedown and four nearfall points off a tilt in the waning seconds of the second frame.

Several overarching themes were on display for the wrestling world to see, as Mendez alluded to, such as his ability to stay composed, score at the ends of periods and out-hustle his opponents.

While the now two-time national champion expressed his gratitude for how far he has come, Mendez showed no signs of complacency, or becoming the ‘hunted.’

“I want to be an Olympic champion. I want to be a World champion. I want to have more national titles than (Coach) Jaggers and hold it above his head a little bit. I want to be the best in the world, and the NCAA title is a good step in that direction.

“We have the U.S. Open at the end of April, right on my birthday. NCAA titles are cool, but I have aspirations to win World titles, and I want to make the World team this summer.”