CORALVILLE, Iowa — University of Michigan sixth-year senior Logan Massa and junior Mason Parris captured freestyle titles at 74kg/163 pounds and 125kg/275 pounds, respectively, at USA Wrestling’s 2020 Senior National Championships on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 11) at Xtream Arena.
Massa repeated as 74kg champion — he also claimed the U.S. title in December during his Olympic redshirt season — with a 15-2 technical superiority over former Arizona State standout Anthony Valencia in the final. Massa gave up the first point on an early stepout but immediately responded with a four-point throw on the edge and a late head-in-the-hole takedown to build a five-point lead at the break. He added two more takedowns in the second period before catching Valencia on his back for four at the 5:46 mark.
Massa went 6-0 over the two-day competition with technical superiority wins in four bouts. His closest match came in the semifinals, where he defeated Iowa State’s David Carr, a 2019 junior freestyle world champion, 4-0, on a passivity point, stepout and late exposure in the second. Massa countered a deep single-leg shot to earn the latter counts, tripping up Carr to put the Cyclone on his back and hold him there for the final 70 seconds of the match.
Parris, a 2019 junior world champion, went 5-0 in the competition and defeated Arizona State’s Tanner Hall, 12-2, in the 125kg final. The Wolverine scored his points off a pair of a takedowns and three gut wrenches — the latter two coming off a double-leg shot to end the bout in just 1:23. Parris also earned a dominant win in the semifinals, pinning Wisconsin All-American Trent Hillger with a cradle at the 2:11 mark. Up three points midway through the first period, Parris spun out of a low single shot and immediately cradled Hillger to get the fall.
The duo represented two of four current collegiate wrestlers to claim individual titles, while the Wolverines boasted three total finalists with unseeded freshman Dylan Ragusin reaching the 57kg/125-pound championship bout, where he fell, 13-3, to Cornell All-American and two-time world silver medalist Vito Arujau.
Ragusin upset second-seeded Darian Cruz, a former NCAA champion from Lehigh, in the second round, scoring five points in the final six seconds, including a last-second lace, to earn a 7-6 decision. He was dominant in back-to-back wins over Minnesota Golden Gophers, including a 16-5 technical superiority over former All-American Sean Russell in the semifinals. He scored two takedowns and a lace in the opening 30 seconds of the bout and, after the score narrowed midway through the first period, broke it open again with a four-point arm whip in the final 10 seconds of the frame. He added a single-leg takedown to end it just 13 seconds into the second period.
Fifth-year senior Kanen Storr rounded out the Wolverines’ placewinners with an eighth-place finish at 65kg/143 pounds. Among Storr’s wins was a 17-13 comeback against Earl Hall; down nine in the second period, the Wolverine scored 13 unanswered points.
