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2021 Junior Hodge Trophy Winner Jesse Mendez!


blorek

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Congratulations to Jesse Mendez!  Jesse is the 2021 Win Magizine “Junior Hodge Trophy” winner.  This award goes to the most dominant high school wrestler in the nation.

 

Jesse is also the first Indiana Wrestler to

capture this prestigious award!

 

Congratulations to Jesse and the Mendez family!

 

 

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46 minutes ago, Y2CJ41 said:

Nice award! I am guessing he might be the first junior to win the award also.

I had a very similar though.  From the list I saw I’m not sure any none seniors have got it either.   Definitely not any two time winners.  

Edited by MattM
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Mendez is also ranked the #1 pound-for-pound wrestler in the nation by FloWrestling. I know in the past we've had guys ranked as the best in their weight class, but I don't recall seeing them slotted as the P4P best. With three state championships, a UWW Junior national championship and world team spot, wins over two NCAA All-Americans as a high school athlete, and now a Junior Hodge Trophy, is Mendez the best prep wrestler to ever come out of Indiana?

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1 hour ago, blueandgold said:

Mendez is also ranked the #1 pound-for-pound wrestler in the nation by FloWrestling. I know in the past we've had guys ranked as the best in their weight class, but I don't recall seeing them slotted as the P4P best. With three state championships, a UWW Junior national championship and world team spot, wins over two NCAA All-Americans as a high school athlete, and now a Junior Hodge Trophy, is Mendez the best prep wrestler to ever come out of Indiana?

 

Best I've seen

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7 hours ago, blueandgold said:

Mendez is also ranked the #1 pound-for-pound wrestler in the nation by FloWrestling. I know in the past we've had guys ranked as the best in their weight class, but I don't recall seeing them slotted as the P4P best. With three state championships, a UWW Junior national championship and world team spot, wins over two NCAA All-Americans as a high school athlete, and now a Junior Hodge Trophy, is Mendez the best prep wrestler to ever come out of Indiana?

Yes, and I don’t think it’s close. 

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1 hour ago, smitty11 said:

Thats outstanding!  Congrats to Jesse.  He is fun to watch.  Hope the injury he had at U23 is not that bad.

He said in a Flo interview that it was a lingering issue that didn’t work out that day.  But he’s going through physical therapy and expects to be ready for Junior Worlds.   Hopefully, he’ll be able to preform without it hampering his ability.   

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4 hours ago, Wrestlingfan937 said:

After what he did at U23 he is already the GOAT in my books! I know it’s been discussed before but has he made his college choice yet? If not I can’t wait to see where he will go. 

Semantics. Just need that cherry 🍒 on top.  You are correct it doesn’t matter: we know what we’ve witnessed.

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Total speculation on my part but I say he ends up at Iowa ot Penn State. Wherever he lands I'm sure they'll be glad to have him. From what I've seen (and I'm sure it's a very small amount compared to others on this board) he does seem like a good young man, I've not seen him act poorly, I wish my guy could have beaten him but there are a lot of those out there! I think he is a great wrestler, I don't believe there will be anyone who can give him a match from Indiana. NCAA will be a fun test for us to watch I really hope he can rehab any injuries and be in top form for college and beyond.

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