Mason Parris was unbeatable as a 3-time IHSAA state champ. Olympic gold could be next.

PARIS — As an Indiana high school wrestler out of Lawrenceburg, Mason Parris was practically unbeatable .

As a freshman in the state quarterfinals, he lost to the eventual state champion. That was his only high school loss as he reeled off three straight IHSAA state titles and finished with a 206-1 career record.

The 2018 Mental Attitude Award winner went to Michigan for college and kept on winning. After claiming gold at the 2019 Junior World Championships at 125 kilograms — or approximately 275 pounds, Parris added 2023 Big Ten and NCAA championships in the 285-pound weight class.

More: Trip to Normandy gives Mason Parris new perspective on what great-grandfather endured

Adding on to his already stellar 2023, Parris took home gold medals at the Budapest Grand Prix and Santiago Pan American Games. So far in 2024, Parris he has won gold at the Pan American Championships and the Budapest Grand Prix. However, potentially his greatest accomplishment yet was qualifying for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“My dad started getting me into wrestling when I was 5 years old,” Parris said in an interview with WOOD TV8 in April. “ … I love representing the United States. The United States is awesome, I think it’s the best country in the world.”

Parris declined an interview request from IndyStar in order to focus on Olympic training.

He will suit up for USA Wrestling's freestyle division in the games, first competing Friday at 5:30 a.m. ET. A key influence in Parris' wrestling journey is still by his side for his training process since qualifying.

Michigan wrestling head coach Sean Bormet guided Parris to his Big Ten and NCAA titles in 2023, and Bormet said Parris' recent accomplishments were ones he foresaw during Parris' high school recruitment.

“At that point it was clear to me that Mason was on track to not only be one of the best in the United States, but also be in contention for World Olympic gold in his future,” Bormet told IndyStar. “That was the goal; that was something that was talked about in his recruiting process.”

Even after compiling a 60-10 overall record during his freshman and sophomore seasons as a Wolverine, Bormet said Parris truly proved himself as a next-level athlete when after missing half of his junior season with a herniated disc in his neck, Parris still competed in the Big Ten tournament and the NCAA championships.

Bormet described Parris as "incredibly consistent, motivated and disciplined," factors that yield benefits when it comes to the intense training and dieting top-tier wrestlers must endure. Parris said it's the high standards he sets for himself that will be key to his success at the 2024 Olympics.

“Being able to push myself to different limits that I never have before and being able to test myself as a man,” Parris told WOOD TV8 in April. “ … All the work put in is what I get out of it.”

USA Freestyle Wrestling coach Bill Zadick said when Parris first began his Olympic preparation, he was training at least six hours a day. While not all six hours were spent on the mat, Zadick knows strength, conditioning and technique is not something the Indiana native will lack heading into Paris.

“You basically eat, sleep, recover and wrestle,” Zadick told IndyStar. “ … It’s one thing to have some skills, but to perform at a high level of consistency over long periods of time, people are going to make adjustments to what your skills are, and you have to be innovative in your intelligence to adapt.”

In the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Gable Steveson won a gold medal for USA Freestyle Wrestling at the 125-kilogram mark. Now that Steveson is a member of the NFL's Buffalo Bills, Parris is the United States' hope at defending that crown.

When the two last squared off against each other in 2021, it was in the finals of the Big Ten and NCAA Championships where Parris earned a silver medal each time. However, with three more years of experience and training under his belt, Bormet knows Parris is capable of becoming the first Indiana-native wrestler to win Olympic gold.

“Mason's bringing a lot of confidence and a lot of belief in himself to the mat,” Bormet said. “He earns that by his mindset and the way he approaches everything he does on a daily basis. We love Mason, and we believe in Mason.”

Contact Kyle Smedley with comments via email at KSmedley@Gannett.com or via X @KyleSmedley_ .

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Mason Parris was unbeatable as a 3-time IHSAA state champ. Olympic gold could be next.