Brooks, Parris Named U-M Athletes of the Year
7/3/2023 11:00:00 AM | General, Women's Gymnastics, Wrestling
• Michigan Athletes of the Year
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan Athletics Department announced Monday (July 3) that Sierra Brooks (women's gymnastics) and Mason Parris (wrestling) have been named the 2022-23 U-M Athletes of the Year.
Brooks is the sixth women's gymnastics athlete to earn the honor and the first since Joanna Sampson repeated in 2013 and 2014. In addition, Brooks is the ninth Michigan student-athlete to earn the Big Ten Medal of Honor and be named Athlete of the Year in the same year, becoming the first to sweep the honors since 2009. An individual national champion after earning the heavyweight title, Parris is the third different wrestler to earn the Athlete of the Year honor.
The following are biographical sketches on Brooks and Parris.
Sierra Brooks (Women's Gymnastics)
Sierra Brooks has cemented herself as one of the greatest Michigan gymnasts of all time after a standout senior career in which she was named the 2023 AAI Award winner. She has earned seven WCGA First Team All-America honors, becoming the first U-M gymnast to be named a three-time Regional Gymnast of the Year and is just the third Michigan gymnast to be named a two-time Big Ten Gymnast of the Year.
She was the 13th Wolverine in program history to earn first team all-conference honors on four occasions, joining Natalie Wojcik as the last U-M gymnast to do so. Brooks earned 16 event titles in 2023, including four all-around titles this season. The senior all-arounder was a 2023 regional champion with a perfect 10.0 on floor, earned a perfect 10.0 on vault at Rutgers, scored a career-high 9.975 on uneven bars against No. 1 Oklahoma, won a share of the Big Ten uneven bars title and was a three-time Big Ten Gymnast of the Week honoree.
Brooks ranked in the top 20 nationally in all four individual events and eighth nationally in the all-around. She finished the season fifth nationally on the vault, 14th on the uneven bars, 19th on the beam and 18th on the floor. Furthermore, Brooks led the North East region in the all-around, vault and floor, while ranking second on beam and third on uneven bars.
Outside of the gym, Brooks is the president of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and is an outstanding student-athlete as a business administration major in the Ross School of Business with a minor in entrepreneurship. She is a three-time WCGA Academic All-American honoree, a COSIDA Academic All-District honoree, a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree. She has also received the Leaders and Best Award and the Bates Deskins Award for most outstanding student-athlete in her class as a sophomore and junior.
Brooks was named a James B. Scholar in March of 2021 and was a leadership development ambassador, representing women's gymnastics. Among all of her activities, she also is a student mentor for incoming freshmen and is a Brown Girls Do Representative.
Mason Parris (Wrestling)
Mason Parris forever etched his named into the Michigan wrestling record book with a perfect senior season in 2022-23, highlighted by the NCAA heavyweight championship and the prestigious Dan Hodge Trophy, presented annually to the nation's most dominant wrestler. Parris was the first ever Wolverine to win college wrestling's top honor and is the third different wrestler to earn Michigan's Male Athlete of the Year award.
After injury (a herniated disc in his neck, suffered at the U.S. World Team Trials semifinals in September 2021) hampered his junior year last season, Parris went 33-0 in 2022-23 en route to the NCAA heavyweight title. He became U-M's 24th NCAA individual champion in program history and fourth at heavyweight.
Parris earned a 5-1 decision over Penn State's No. 2 Greg Kerkvliet in the championship final -- his third win over Kerkvliet this season after previously falling to the Nittany Lion three times last year. He also defeated Kerkvliet, 5-3 in overtime, to capture the Big Ten heavyweight title and earned a 3-1 decision in the dual-meet matchup, after which Parris took over the nation's No. 1 heavyweight ranking for the remainder of the season.
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. Parris also earned 17 wins over nationally-ranked opposition and went a combined 10-0 over the other seven 2023 NCAA All-Americans this season. At the NCAA Championships, he outscored his five opponents, 49-6, including a 16-1 technical fall over Iowa's No. 4 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 was 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.
Off the mat, Parris is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten and NWCA Scholar All-America honoree and graduated from Michigan in April with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.
A junior world champion in freestyle wrestling, Parris will remain in Ann Arbor to train with the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club and pursue a spot on the 2024 U.S. Olympic team.
