Penn State Sports Magazine
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4 4 M A Y 2 0 2 4 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M P enn State star Aaron Brooks is going out on top. In March, the super senior 197-pounder from Hagerstown, Md., was named the winner of the 2023-24 Dan Hodge Trophy, beating out Northern Io- wa's Parker Keckeisen, plus PSU teammates Carter Starocci, Greg Kerkvliet and Levi Haines. Considered the highest individ- ual honor in college wrestling, the Hodge Trophy is presented annu- ally to the nation's best wrestler by WIN Magazine. Brooks is the fifth Penn Stater to claim the honor since it was first given out in 1995. He's the first Nittany Lion to win it since Bo Nickal in 2019. "Winning the Hodge Trophy is a blessing," Brooks told WIN Magazine. "It's like the Heisman Trophy in foot- ball, so to know that the hard work and dedication I've put in are being rewarded with such a historic award is really cool." Brooks won his fourth NCAA title when he defeated second-seeded Trent Hidlay of NC State, 6-1, in the final at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. It was his first championship in that weight class after securing his first three titles at 184 pounds. In this year's tournament, the Penn State wrestler reached the final by first beating Northwestern's Evan Bates by technical fall, 18-4 in 5:24. In Round 2, he pinned Wyoming's Joseph Novak at the 2:20 mark of the first period. He then pinned Oklahoma's Stephen Buchanan at the 2:44 mark of the first period in the quarterfinals. Following a 17-2 technical fall over 12th-seeded Rocky Elam of Mis- souri in the semifinals, Brooks took out Hidlay for the fourth time in his college career to finish first again. Brooks completed his final college sea- son with a 22-0 record. He totaled 6 pins, 11 technical falls and 3 major decisions. For his career, he went 89-2 and was a five-time All-American. "Aaron Brooks stands tall in the long list of Dan Hodge Trophy winners, not only for his performance on the mat this year — and all four years, for that matter — but for the way he has represented his school and his sport," said Mike Chap- man, founder of WIN Magazine. "Penn State has set the standard for team excel- lence over the past dozen years and also for individual excellence." Brooks received 48 of 59 first-place votes from a panel made up of retired college coaches, media members, previ- ous Hodge winners and representatives of national wrestling organizations. Fan voting also figures into the final results, and Brooks won that hand- ily, too. Keckeisen, who claimed the 184-pound title, was second, while Starocci was third and Kerkv- liet fourth. Starocci and Kerkvliet wrapped up their senior seasons by winning national championships at 174 and 285 pounds, respectively. By claiming this year's award, Brooks joined four previous Hodge Trophy winners from Penn State: Kerry McCoy (1997), David Taylor (2012, 2014), Zain Retherford (2017, 2018) and Nickal. PSU coach Cael Sanderson, himself a three-time winner of the Hodge Trophy, said that Brooks' success was a byprod- uct of his dedication to the sport. "Aaron has a great mind for wrestling," Sanderson said. "He loves wrestling. He feels it. He knows the technique, but that's only one aspect. He shares his pas- sion. He is very calm when he competes. He has that bigger-picture mentality. The bigger the match, the better he is. He has the ability to share that with his teammates, which is powerful." ■ Aaron Brooks Named Winner Of Hodge Trophy GREG PICKEL | G R E G . P I C K E L @ O N 3 . C O M Brooks went 22-0 in his final season at Penn State, compiling 6 pins, 11 tech- nical falls and 3 major decisions en route to the national title at 197 pounds. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL Nittany Lions Sweep InterMat Awards Penn State wrestlers made it a clean sweep, capturing all three of InterMat's 2024 Big Ten post- season awards. Fresh off winning his fourth national championship, 197-pounder Aaron Brooks was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year. Brooks had earlier won the Hodge Trophy as the nation's top collegiate wrestler and was named the most dominant wrestler at the national tournament. Brooks' teammate and fellow four-time champ, 174-pounder Carter Starocci, was the honorable mention pick. Cael Sanderson was InterMat's Big Ten Coach of the Year after guiding the Nittany Lions to an un- defeated dual meet season and conference tournament championship. Also, 165-pound standout Mitchell Mesenbrink was named Freshman of the Year. In his first sea- son at Penn State after transferring from Cal Baptist, Mesenbrink compiled a 26-1 record with a Big Ten title and a second-place finish at nationals. "Mesenbrink came into the season with a ton of hype and expectation," InterMat's Ryan Holmes wrote. "Many of us couldn't wait to see him compete at the NCAA level after transferring to PSU from California Baptist where he took a redshirt year, and he lived up to every bit of it. "In his first conference tournament, he recorded a technical fall, a second-period pin, and a wild 13-11 comeback win over Wisconsin's Dean Hamiti in the finals. He followed that up with three bonus point wins and a pair of decisions on his way to the final where he came just a point short of being an undefeated redshirt freshman NCAA Champion." — Greg Pickel