Two Buckeyes will wrestle for national championships on Saturday night.
Jesse Mendez will wrestle for his third straight national championship at 141 pounds. He’ll battle Oklahoma State’s Sergio Vega for the title after a dramatic victory in Friday night’s semifinals, where he took down Lehigh’s Luke Stanich for a 4-1 win in sudden victory.
THE BADDEST MAN ALIVE
— NCAA Men's Wrestling (@NCAAWrestling) March 21, 2026
(1) Jesse Mendez (141) of @wrestlingbucks defeats (5) Luke Stanich of Lehigh with a 4-1 decision to book his trip to the finals. #NCAAWrestling x ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/cZ4ZbBMFCW
The No. 1 seed, Mendez looks to become the third wrestler in Ohio State history – joining Logan Stieber (a four-time champion) and Kyle Snyder – to win three NCAA championships. With a win on Saturday, Mendez would also complete an undefeated season; he’d become the fifth Buckeye to achieve that feat, joining Stieber (who did it twice), Snyder (who did it twice), Kollin Moore and Rex Holman.
Ben Davino, a redshirt freshman, looks to win his first national championship Saturday night when he will battle No. 1 seed Jax Forrest, also of Oklahoma State, for the 133-pound title. Davino, the No. 2 seed in the weight class, defeated No. 3 seed Marcus Blaze of Penn State – just as he did to win the Big Ten championship – in Friday’s semifinals.
At 133, No. 2 Ben Davino (Ohio State) wins in TB over No. 3 Marcus Blaze (Penn State), rides him out for 30 seconds to punch his ticket to the NCAA finals.
— Saturday Night Lights (@WrestlingSNL) March 21, 2026
A Cael Sanderson challenge led to a lengthy delay post-match before the result was finalized. pic.twitter.com/v4FSgVWRrD
Collectively, Davino and Mendez look to become the first pair of Ohio State wrestlers to win national championships in the same season since Logan Stieber and Nathan Tomasello in 2015, when the Buckeyes also won their first and only team championship in program history. Penn State is a near-lock to win this year’s national championship, however, as the Nittany Lions held a decisive lead in the team standings as of Friday night.
Saturday night’s NCAA championship finals begin at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN.
