It didn’t take Mitchell Mesenbrink long to earn a reputation as a buzzsaw on his feet when he debuted for Penn State last season.

As a result, his opponents’ only hope in most matches was to slow Mesenbrink down. Obstruct his offensive flow, back away from his shots and keep it close on the mat.

They tried, anyway.

A year later, Penn State’s 165-pounder is off to an even quicker start in his quest to better last season’s runner-up finish at NCAAs.

“I feel like every time that I get to go out there, it’s a new creative act,” Mesenbrink said. “It’s a new canvas and time to have fun and enjoy it and work on the things I’ve been working on.”

That includes making his foes pay for their previous strategies.

“He’s gotta be able to get away from people and just be himself,” Penn State coach Cael Sanderson said just before the start of the season. “He’s put a lot of effort and time into the mat wrestling.”

A month later, there’s plenty of evidence to back up Sanderson's claim.

Mesenbrink is 7-0 with seven technical falls — two more bonus-point wins than he had at this point last year, and is tied with Carter Starocci for the team lead with 11 dual-meet takedowns.

Meanwhile, only heavyweight Greg Kerkvliet has scored more back points than Mesenbrink’s 12 in duals for the Nittany Lions.

“It’s an art and you can constantly, constantly keep get better at it,” Mesenbrink said. “I’m not thinking about tech falls or whatever. I love to battle, too, so if it goes into triple OT I love that too.”

No one has come particularly close before and since he lost 9-8 to Iowa State’s David Carr in the NCAA finals in March. Since then, Mesenbrink’s longest match went 5:46.

On Sunday he decked Wyoming’s Cooper Voorhees 15-0 in just 3:17 inside the Bryce Jordan Center.

After snagging a quick opening takedown, Mesenbrink controlled from the top for over a minute before working the Cowboy over to his back for four near-fall points. He added another turn for four more and had an 11-0 lead just like that.

The referee was already raising Mesenbrink’s hand as fans were returning to their seats from the bathrooms or concession counters after the intermission between 157 and 165.

Following the match, Mesenbrink said he was hitting things he hadn’t been and spot on with technique where he hadn’t been over his first seven matches.

“I don’t usually hit those things, so progressing as a wrestler I don’t think ever ends,” Mesenbrink said. “A lot of the top stuff that I’ve been doing, I’ve worked on with coaches and that’s a whole different game and it’s really exciting and it makes the sport fun, looking for new challenges and new things that you can constantly keep getting better at.”

Big Levi

While Mesenbrink holds the team lead in tech falls, Levi Haines currently leads the Nittany Lions’ most coveted statistical category.

Haines’ four falls — an ongoing streak of four straight — are a pretty good indicator he’s handled the uncommon two-weight-class jump just fine.

Last season’s 157-pound NCAA champ, Haines entered the year with just nine career collegiate pins in 50 matches. Five of them came last season.

“I think Levi looks great,” Sanderson said. “He’s big and strong. His conditioning’s outstanding. He’s wrestling a high pace, just kind of using every second with his hand fighting and the pressuring and the snapping. I think he looks great at the weight class. It’s been a really nice transition for him.”

Haines' toughest match could be just on the horizon. Penn State will have a Sunday night showdown with Missouri in Nashville as part of the Journeymen Duals. There, two-time NCAA champ Keegan O'Toole, who also bumped up to 174 this season, likely awaits Haines.

“Yeah, I think there’s a lot of great matchups and some matchups that could be NCAA finals, NCAA semifinals, those are the fun ones," Sanderson said.

Journeymen

The Nittany Lions will also get duals with Binghamton and rising Little Rock on Sunday in The Music City.

It could provide the coaching staff with a chance to get wrestlers competing for mat time some dual experience, especially considering Penn State will wrestle the three duals consecutively.

“We’ve talked about the different possibilities, the different options,” Sanderson said. “It just depends on the guys. A lot of our guys just want to wrestle and they’re in very good shape. three matches in a row shouldn’t be that big of a deal to them.”

Alex Facundo, who’s pushing Tyler Kasak at 157 won’t be among them. Sanderson said he’ll be out for a couple of weeks with an undisclosed injury.