Parris Wins Prestigious Dan Hodge Trophy
3/27/2023 1:00:00 PM | Wrestling
NEWTON, Iowa -- University of Michigan fifth-year senior Mason Parris has been named the winner of the 2023 WIN Magazine/Culture House Dan Hodge Trophy, the magazine announced on Monday (March 27). The award is presented annually to the nation's most dominant college wrestler. Parris is Michigan's first-ever Hodge Trophy recipient.
Parris posted a perfect 33-0 record en route to the NCAA heavyweight title, earning a 5-1 decision over Penn State's Greg Kerkvliet in the championship final last Saturday (March 18). He earned 21 bonus wins -- 64 percent of his total wins -- with 11 falls, three technical falls and seven major decisions and averaged 9.7 points per match this season.
He also earned 17 wins over nationally-ranked opposition and went a combined 10-0 over the other seven 2023 NCAA All-Americans this season. Parris outscored his NCAA opponents, 49-6, over five matches, including a 16-1 technical fall over Iowa's Tony Cassioppi in the semifinals.
Parris completed his collegiate career with a 124-18 record, ranking 15th in Michigan program history in total wins and eighth with a .873 winning percentage. His 45 career pins rank third all-time. He is a four-time All-American, finishing second, fifth and first, while earning NWCA first-team honors in 2020 after COVID-19 canceled the NCAA tournament, and became U-M's 24th NCAA champion and fourth at heavyweight.
Created by WIN founder Mike Chapman in 1995 as college wrestling's equivalent to football's Heisman Trophy, the Hodge Trophy is named after Oklahoma's legendary three-time NCAA champion Dan Hodge, who was never taken down in college and pinned 36 of 46 opponents over a three-year span.
The winner of the Hodge Trophy is determined by the Hodge Trophy Voting Committee, made up of past Hodge winners, a retired college coach from each region and national media members. A fan vote winner receives five additional first-place votes. Primary criteria for the award are overall record, bonus-point percentage, quality of competition and sportsmanship.
Among a field of 10 finalists, Parris claimed 38 of 64 first-place votes for the 2023 Hodge Trophy. Penn State's Carter Starocci was second in voting with 14, while Cornell's Yianni Diakomihalis received six votes. Parris also accumulated the highest portion of the fan votes, earning more than 11,000 of the total 36,225 cast online last week and nearly 5,000 more than second-place Starocci.
Players Mentioned
