The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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APRIL 2023 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 9 BY ANTHONY BROOME M ichigan fifth-year wrestler Mason Parris maintained his undefeated season with a Big Ten heavyweight title win on March 6 over Penn State's Greg Kerkvliet and another victory over the Nittany Lion almost two weeks later for the national title to finish the season 33-0. Last season, Kerkvliet had the edge on Parris, who was batting a herniated disk, beating him three times. Parris gained revenge this season, stop- ping Kerkvliet twice in overtime and with a dominant 5-1 decision in the national title match in Tulsa, Okla. "I wasn't really nervous at all," Parris said. "I was very confident in myself and felt really good and believed in my abili- ties." Kerkvliet's only score came on a stall- ing call against Parris near the end of the third period. The match had been all but decided at that point. "That stalling call didn't really faze him," Michigan coach Sean Bormet said, via The Daily. "Mason has had great com- posure and great mat and match aware- ness all season, which I think really shined at the NCAA Championships. He was one of the most dominant competitors of all weight classes." The top-ranked heavyweight and win- ner of the Hodge Trophy — awarded to college wrestling's best overall performer — Parris had been through a long road to claim the highest individual honor at the collegiate level. He was the runner-up in the 2021 NCAA Championships during his junior season, when he lost out to Min- nesota's Gable Steveson, a future Olympic gold medalist. Steveson beat Parris for Big Ten titles in 2020 and 2021, so this year's victory was a long time coming for the U-M heavyweight. This season, Parris' dominance was unmatched. In addition to going unde- feated, 17 of his victories came over na- tionally ranked opponents, including 10 wins against the other seven 2023 All- Americans in his heavyweight division. He outscored his NCAA Championship opponents 49-6 over five matches, in- cluding a 16-1 technical fall over Iowa's Tony Cassioppi in the semifinals. Parris plans on staying in Ann Arbor to train in hopes of making the U.S. Na- tional Team that will compete at the World Championships in late August in Warsaw, Poland. Parris' individual national champion- ship is the Michigan program's second in as many seasons after Nick Suriano's win at 125 pounds in 2022. Michigan placed sixth as a team with eight wrestlers competing at the NCAA Championships. Fifth-year senior Will Lewan (157 pounds) finished in seventh place, while junior Cameron Amine (165 pounds) grabbed fourth place. Parris, Le- wan and Amine walked out of the event with All-America honors. The three All- Americans brought U-M's all-time pro- gram total to 208 in 101 years. Michigan has had at least one All-American in 26 of the past 28 NCAA Tournaments, which includes at least three in the past eight tournaments. "I'm super proud of our guys," Bormet said. "I thought they put a tremendous effort on the mat. All eight guys that we had competing at the NCAA Champion- ships scored points and were in the round of 16. They competed with a tremendous amount of heart and really represented Michigan wrestling well." Michigan took fifth place at the Big Ten Tournament with 84.5 points. Lewan (157 pounds) and Matt Finesilver (184) took third place, Amine (165) was fourth, Dylan Ragusin (133) placed fifth and Jack Med- ley (125) and Chance Lamer (149) placed seventh. ❏ ❱ Inside Michigan ATHLETICS Mason Parris Grabs National Title And Is Named Hodge Trophy Winner Parris finished with an undefeated 33-0 record en route to the 2023 NCAA championship in the heavyweight division. One week later, he was named the winner of the Hodge Trophy, the "Heisman of wrestling." PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN PHOTOGRAPHY