Lawrenceburg native Mason Parris named nation's best collegiate wrestler

An undefeated season and an NCAA national championship proved that Lawrenceburg native and Michigan wrestler Mason Parris was the best heavyweight in the country. On Monday, Parris was named the recipient of the 2023 Dan Hodge Trophy, as the nation's best overall collegiate wrestler.

Parris will receive his award on April 2 at the University of Michigan wrestling banquet. Parris received 38 of a possible 64 first-place votes. Penn State's Carter Starocci was second with 14 first-place votes.

“This is an unreal feeling,” Parris said in a release. “To even be nominated is such an honor. To win it is such a great way to represent my family and my school.”

What is the Dan Hodge trophy?

The Dan Hodge trophy is an award that has been presented to the nation's best collegiate wrestler by WIN Magazine since its inception in 1995. The Hodge trophy is the wrestling equivalent to college football's Heisman trophy.

The award is named after University of Oklahoma wrestler Dan Hodge who won national titles in 1955, 1956 and 1957, finishing his career with a 46-0 record with 36 wins by pinfall.

The award has been won by a wrestler from the Big Ten every year since 2017. Minnesota's Gable Steveson won the award in 2022 and split it in 2021 after beating Parris in the NCAA finals.

How is the winner decided?

According to Win Magazine, the award voting has four criteria: record, dominance, quality of competition and sportsmanship. Those criteria are voted on by previous Hodge winners, national media members, retired coaches, national organization representatives as well as a fan vote.

Winning the fan vote gives a wrestler five first-place votes. Parris easily won the fan vote for the 2023 award after receiving over 11,000 votes, the only one of the 10 finalists to get over 6,200 votes.

How was Mason Parris' season?

A fifth-year competitor for the Michigan Wolverines, Parris was an NCAA tournament qualifier all five years, finishing as national runner-up in 2021 and the fifth-place finisher last season.

This year, Parris was ranked as the nations; top heavyweight for nearly the entire season which ended with a perfect 33-0 record, culminating with a 5-1 decision over Penn State's Greg Kerkvliet in the national finals.

Parris' 33 wins were the most among the award's 10 finalists with no other wrestler winning or even competing in more than 28 matches.

Regarding the dominance criteria of the award voting, Parris' 11 pins were the most among finalists.

Parris is the first wrestler from Michigan to win the award. Parris went to Michigan after a dominating career at Lawrenceburg where he had a 206-1 record with state championships in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Parris went 152-0 across his final three seasons for the Tigers.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Mason Parris wins Dan Hodge Trophy as nation's top collegiate wrestler