COLORADO SPRING, Colo. — The Cliff Keen Wrestling Club’s Mason Parris, the 2023 NCAA heavyweight champion and Hodge Trophy winner, will represent the United States at 125kg/275 pounds in men’s freestyle at the 2023 Senior World Championships this month in Belgrade, Serbia, USA Wrestling announced on Wednesday (Sept. 6).
Parris, who is No. 2 on the 2023-24 U.S. Senior Men’s Freestyle National Team after a runner-up finish at Final X last June, will replace 2020 Olympic champion Gable Steveson on the world team.
Parris previously captured 2019 junior world gold in men’s freestyle at 125kg with a pin against Iran’s Amir Hossein Zare in the gold-medal final in Tallin, Estonia. He captured the 2020 U.S. Senior Open title and took runner-up at the 2021 World Team Trials and a third at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. Most recently, he claimed gold at the UWW Ranking Tournament in Hungary in July.
In his final collegiate season, Parris went 33-0 in 2022-23 — with 21 bonus wins — en route to the NCAA heavyweight title and was named Michigan’s first-ever recipient of the prestigious Dan Hodge Trophy, presented annually to the nation’s most dominant wrestler. He also earned Michigan’s Male Athlete of the Year award.
He 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.
Parris is one of five CKWC members and five Wolverine alums on the UWW entry list, joining world bronze medalist Stevan Micic (61kg), Austin Gomez (65kg), Malik Amine (74kg), Olympic bronze medalist Myles Amine (86kg), Matt Finesilver (86kg) and Ben Honis (97kg).
The World Championships is slated for Sept. 16-24 at Stark Arena in Belgrade. Men’s freestyle kicks off the competition, and Parris will compete on Sept. 16-17.
