Jesse Wayne Mendez (born April 28, 2003) is an American freestyle and graduated folkstyle wrestler who competes at 65 kilograms. In freestyle, he claimed a silver medal at the 2023 U20 World Championships.
In folkstyle, Mendez was a two-time NCAA Division I National champion at 141 pounds, as well as a four-time All-American for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Mendez was just the 10th wrestler to win four Indiana wrestling state titles capping off a 157-1 high school career. Mendez also competed for team USA at the 2019 Cadet Worlds and 2021 Junior Worlds.
Mendez started as a true freshman for the Buckeyes at 133 lbs. Mendez had a strong regular season finishing 13âÂÂ3 with notable losses to Vito Arujau 6-1 and Roman Bravo-Young 8âÂÂ2. Mendez finished his first Big 10 tournament with a sixth-place finish going 1âÂÂ3. Mendez kicked off his first NCAA tournament with a 12-4 major decision over Brendan Ferretti of Navy. Mendez was sent to the consolation bracket after a 6âÂÂ2 loss to Arizona State's Michael McGee. Mendez then rattled off four straight wins including wins over Lucas Byrd of Illinois and avenging a regular season loss against Sam Latona of Virginia Tech to land on the podium. Mendez finished the tournament with back-to-back losses to Michael McGee and Aaron Nagao of Minnesota to cap off a sixth-place finish as a true freshman.
Up at 144 lb Mendez's sophomore campaign started off strong winning Big 10 wrestler of the week after a 5âÂÂ0 run to winning a CKLV title defeating three Top 15 ranked wrestlers including Brock Hardy of Nebraska, Vince Cornella of Cornell before winning the title match over No. 7 Ryan Jack of NC State by decision, 5âÂÂ2. Mendez improved to 25âÂÂ2 on the season by capturing his first Big 10 tournament title by avenging an earlier loss against Penn State's Beau Bartlett in a 4-1 decision. Mendez kicked off the NCAA tournament with bonus wins of Todd Carter of Gardner Webb 19-4 and a fall of Chattanooga's Isaiah Powe. In the quarterfinals Mendez defeated Big 10 foe Brock Hardy by 6-2 decision. In the semifinals Mendez defeated Iowa State's Anthony Echemendia 6âÂÂ4 to advance to the finals in a rematch of the Big 10 conference tournament. Mendez became an NCAA tournament champion by defeating Bartlett 4âÂÂ1.
Mendez returned for his junior year to 141 lb as the returning champion at the weight class. Mendez suffered his only regular season loss of the season to rival Beau Bartlett 4âÂÂ2 in the Penn State-Ohio State dual meet. Mendez finished fourth at the Big 10 conference tournament after falling 9âÂÂ8 to Nebraska's Brock Hardy. Mendez once again fell to Bartlett 4âÂÂ2 in the third-place match. Mendez began his third NCAA tournament with bonus wins over Briar Priest of Pittsburgh, Sergio Lemley of Michigan and Vance Vombaur of Minnesota. Mendez revenged two losses during the season by taking out Bartlett 2âÂÂ1 in tiebreakers to advance to his second straight NCAA final. Mendez captured his second NCAA 141 lb title by revenging a conference tournament loss to Brock Hardy 12âÂÂ9.
! colspan="7"| Senior freestyle matches |- ! Res. ! Record ! Opponent ! Score ! Date ! Event ! Location |- ! style=background:white colspan=7 | |- |Loss | |align=left| Carter Young |style="font-size:88%"|FF |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3|May 16âÂÂ17, 2025 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3|2025 US World Team Trials Challenge |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=3| Louisville, Kentucky |- |Loss |17-8 |align=left| Real Woods |style="font-size:88%"|9-11 |- |Win |17-6 |align=left| Marcus Blaze |style="font-size:88%"|4-1 |- ! style=background:white colspan=7 | |- |Loss |16-7 |align=left| Joseph McKenna |style="font-size:88%"|2-3 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|April 23, 2025 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=4|2025 CLAW US Open â 65 kg |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=4| Las Vegas, Nevada |- |Win |16-6 |align=left| Beau Bartlett |style="font-size:88%"|4-2 |- |Win |15-6 |align=left| Vince Cornella |style="font-size:88%"|TF 15âÂÂ4 |- |Win |14-6 |align=left| Ethan Rossi |style="font-size:88%"|TF 12âÂÂ2 |- |Win |13-6 |align=left| Andrew Alirez |style="font-size:88%"|4-1 |style="font-size:88%"|June 5, 2024 |style="font-size:88%"|2024 Beat the Streets |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;"| New York City, New York |- ! style=background:white colspan=7 | |- |Loss |12âÂÂ6 |align=left| Joseph McKenna |style="font-size:88%"|4âÂÂ4 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6|April 19âÂÂ20, 2024 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=6|2024 US Olympic Team Trials |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=6| State College, Pennsylvania |- |Win |12âÂÂ5 |align=left| Nahshon Garrett |style="font-size:88%"|TF 11âÂÂ0 |- |Loss |11âÂÂ5 |align=left| Zain Retherford |style="font-size:88%"|2âÂÂ3 |- |Win |11âÂÂ4 |align=left| Yianni Diakomihalis |style="font-size:88%"|12âÂÂ7 |- |Win |10âÂÂ4 |align=left| James Green |style="font-size:88%"|6âÂÂ3 |- |Win |9âÂÂ4 |align=left| Joseph McKenna |style="font-size:88%"|8âÂÂ2 |- ! style=background:white colspan=7 | |- |Loss | |align=left| Henry Porter |style="font-size:88%"|FF |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3|November 18, 2023 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3|2023 Bill Farrell Memorial International |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=3| New York City, New York |- |Loss |8âÂÂ4 |align=left| Kaleb Larkin |style="font-size:88%"|6âÂÂ7 |- |Win |8âÂÂ3 |align=left| Ethan Aguigui |style="font-size:88%"|TF 10âÂÂ0 |- ! style=background:white colspan=7 | |- |Loss |7âÂÂ3 |align=left| Josh Rodriguez |style="font-size:88%"|2âÂÂ5 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3|May 21âÂÂ22, 2022 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=3|2022 US World Team Trials |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=3| Coralville, Iowa |- |Win |7âÂÂ2 |align=left| Shelton Mack |style="font-size:88%"|TF 10âÂÂ0 |- |Loss |6âÂÂ2 |align=left| Seth Gross |style="font-size:88%"|12âÂÂ13 |- ! style=background:white colspan=7 | |- |Win | |align=left| Daniel Deshazer |style="font-size:88%"|FF |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=9|April 27 â May 1, 2022 |style="font-size:88%" rowspan=9|2022 US Open National Championships |style="text-align:left;font-size:88%;" rowspan=9| Las Vegas, Nevada |- |Win | |align=left| Tyler Graff |style="font-size:88%"|FF |- |Win |6âÂÂ1 |align=left| Josh Kramer |style="font-size:88%"|8âÂÂ4 |- |Win |5âÂÂ1 |align=left| Paul Bianchi |style="font-size:88%"|TF 10âÂÂ0 |- |Win |4âÂÂ1 |align=left| Mitchell Brown |style="font-size:88%"|TF 10âÂÂ0 |- |Win |3âÂÂ1 |align=left| Ethan Rotondo |style="font-size:88%"|TF 12âÂÂ0 |- |Loss |2âÂÂ1 |align=left| Daniel Deshazer |style="font-size:88%"|5âÂÂ6 |- |Win |2âÂÂ0 |align=left| Joseph Pins |style="font-size:88%"|TF 10âÂÂ0 |- |Win |1âÂÂ0 |align=left| Kyle Smith |style="font-size:88%"|TF 10âÂÂ0 |-