Mark Perry Jr.
- Weight class: 165
- Age: 23
- Hometown:
Stillwater, Okla. - Season record: 25-3
- Year:
Senior
Mark Perry Jr. had big plans in mind for his senior season in the hours after he claimed the NCAA title last year with a stunning victory against Oklahoma State’s Johny Hendricks in the 165-pound national championship match.
Perry wanted to go undefeated. He wanted to dominate. He wanted to win the Hodge Trophy.
But those goals became unattainable with an early-season defeat, a mid-season slip and a knee injury that knocked him out of competition for nearly two months.
Perry fell from the ranks of the unbeatens in November with a shocking disqualification loss to unranked Chris Brown of Old Dominion. He battled weight problems in early January and lost for the first time in nearly three years at Carver-Hawkeye Arena when he dropped a 5-3 decision to Oklahoma State’s Jake Dieffenbach. Perry rebounded the next weekend to beat the top three challengers in his weight class at the National Duals — an illustration of how good he could be — even when he wasn’t on top of his game.
“I feel when I’m ready to go and I’m on my game, I’m the best guy, hands down,” Perry said during the Midlands Championships, where he pinned his first four opponents and racked up 5 minutes, 36 seconds of riding time in the finals during an 8-0 win against Iowa State’s Jon Reader. “But I have to keep proving it each match or it doesn't mean anything.”
Perry proved it at the most crucial time. Two months after undergoing surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee, he became the 19th multi-time national champion in Iowa history. He notched two falls and a major decision on his way to earning All-America honors for the fourth time. He capped his career by capturing his second national title with a 5-2 win against Michigan’s Eric Tannenbaum in the NCAA finals.
“He’s a gamer,” Iowa coach Tom Brands said. “I’m real proud of Mark Perry. I’m proud of how he came back from that surgery.”
— Andy Hamilton