By Nick Giannandrea / The Bee 02/28/08 22:39:03

Despite being an NCAA Championships medalist two years ago and a probable placer again last season if not for an elbow injury, Mendes chose to jump from the 125-pound weight class to 141s for his senior season at Cal Poly.

The move looks sweet right now as Mendes enters this weekend's Pac-10 Championships at Oregon as the nation's No. 1 141-pounder and the division's only unbeaten wrestler at 23-0.

"Once he made that decision, we didn't look back. There are no excuses," first-year Cal Poly assistant Sammie Henson said. "He made the decision and felt comfortable with it. After that, we got the game plan and thought out what we'd do."

Mendes climbed to the top of the 141-pound division not long after pinning then No. 2-ranked Manny Rivera of Minnesota in December, becoming the first Cal Poly wrestler in 28 years to be ranked No. 1.

But he didn't stop there.

Two weekends ago, Mendes posted a 9-2 decision over Oklahoma's 16th-ranked Zack Bailey.

Mendes followed that with a last-second, 4-3 victory over No. 2 Nathan Morgan of Oklahoma State, an old rival from his days at Bakersfield High. Mendes needed a takedown with 10 seconds left to pull out the victory.

Now, Mendes seeks to become Cal Poly's first NCAA champion since Mark DiGirolamo won the 118-pound title in 1976, and just the college's third champ overall.

The NCAA Championships are March 20-22 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

And Henson, who has coached three wrestlers to NCAA individual titles and won two himself while at Clemson, said Mendes has what it takes to become a champion.

"He's going to put himself in position to be the best he can be," Henson said. "He has the potential to be in the finals and win. Do I think he can do it? Yes, I do. But as a wrestler, you don't worry about winning or losing. You focus on staying with the game plan and I think he buys into that thought process."

Mendes has plowed through the nation's 141-pound division with the help of his signature move: the cement mixer, which starts with a front headlock and an underhook of either hand. Mendes then explodes to the underhook side and rolls opponents onto their back.

"You have to be very explosive and you have to be able to go both ways to do it," Henson said.

"And Chad is so explosive that this move is pretty tough to stop. You think, 'I can stop this,' but once you think that, it's too late."

But Henson cautions that the cement mixer isn't the only move in Mendes' bag of tricks. He says the man who placed sixth at the NCAA Championships at 125 pounds in 2006, and sat out the second half of last season with an elbow injury, is a well-polished wrestler.

"These guys all think it's all he has," Henson said.

"It overshadows his wrestling, which I love. He's 23-0 and he's won a lot of matches just by being a great wrestler and having a plan of attack. But [the cement mixer] is a good thing to have."