The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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28 THE WOLVERINE ❱ AUGUST 2023 2022-23 YEAR IN REVIEW BY JOHN BORTON M ason Parris couldn't have dreamed it any better. T h e f i f t h -yea r se n i o r h eav y we i g h t w re s t l e r proved nothing short of flawless in his final campaign as a Wolverine. He fought his way to a 33-0 record, an unblemished run to the national cham- pionship and the 2023 Dan Hodge Tro- phy as the best college wrestler in the country. The honors for the four-time All-American now extend even beyond wrestling. He's been named both The Wolverine's and Michigan's Male Ath- lete of the Year. " I t u n fo l d e d m o re t h a n I eve n thought," he said. "I always felt I had really good wrestling skills. I always wanted to be an NCAA champion. "Just getting that championship was huge. Finding out a few weeks later that I won the Hodge Trophy was crazy for me and just surreal. Ending up with this Michigan Athlete of the Year is just like a storybook ending. "My wrestling career at Michigan couldn't have ended any better." Parris doesn't focus only on his own sport. A big football fan, he's been cov- eted by Jim Harbaugh's crew and fol- lows other Michigan squads as well. He knows what it means to be regarded as the No. 1 athlete among an array of na- tional standouts. "It's definitely an honor to be named Michigan Athlete of the Year," he as- sured. "There are so many other great athletes here, and we have so many other great sports teams." Part of Parris's gratification springs from the adversity he's faced in the not- so-distant past. He suffered a herniated disc in his neck in the U.S. World Team Trials semifinals in September 2021, the injury hindering his chances for a national championship a year earlier than he actually arrived at one. Parris finished fifth in the NCAA Championships at heavyweight in the spring of 2022. For most, that's a proud accomplishment. But the veteran Wol- verine had his sights set higher. "That injury last year was really tough on me," he admitted. "Not placing where I wanted to at NCAAs was tough. But I made the choice that I wanted to be the best, and I was going to do whatever it took to win it all. "I just wanted to do every- thing I could to win every match and put up as many points as I could for my team. "The main thing, honestly, was just my confidence in my- self. The injury set me back. I was weak on one side. "Coming back, getting big- ger and stronger, I felt like I was a whole different person than I was the year be- fore, and that nobody could stop me." Nobody did, not even his archnem- esis from the year before. Penn State's Greg Kerkvliet had the injury-ham- pered Parris' number in 2021-22, beat- ing the wounded Wolverine three times. Parris flipped that script this year, posting a 5-3 overtime decision against Kerkvliet to earn the Big Ten heavy- weight championship in addition to taking him down 3-1 in a dual meet. The two squared off again in the final NCAA showdown. Parris scored a deci- sive 5-1 victory, capping his dominant 49-6 advantage over five foes in this year's NCAAs. "I knew he was going to be the guy KING OF KING OF THE MAT THE MAT Mason Parris Goes Out On Top In Perfect Ending MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR