Samara Chavez to contend for women’s freestyle gold; Mason Parris, Dustin Plott reach men’s freestyle bronze medal matches at Hungary Ranking Series Event

BUDAPEST, Hungary – After the opening session on day two of the 2026 Polyák Imre, Varga János & Kozma István Memorial in Budapest, Hungary, Samara Chavez advanced to the women’s freestyle 50 kg gold-medal match, while Dustin Plott (92 kg) and Mason Parris (125 kg) qualified for men’s freestyle bronze-medal matches.

Chavez enters Thursday’s second session at 3-0, with two pins and a technical fall. Her standout performance came in the semifinals against Kazakhstan’s Zeinep Bayanova, whom she pinned in the opening 45 seconds. Chavez has yet to surrender a point in Budapest and will meet China’s 2024 Olympic bronze medalist, Ziqi Feng, for the title.

Plott battled through repechage to reach the 92 kg bronze-medal match after finishing the first session 1-1. He dropped an 8-6 decision to Azerbaijan’s Ali Tcokaev, the reigning U23 and Senior European Championships gold medalist, before being pulled back into repechage. Against Bahrain’s Magomed Sharipov, Plott led 6-4 heading into the final minute, then converted a single leg to a takedown and a leg lace into three turns to close out a 14-4 technical fall. He will face Türkiye’s Fatih Altunbas for a place on the podium.

Parris went 2-1 in the opening session to earn a spot in the 125 kg bronze-medal match.  He advanced on a medical forfeit by Italy, then defeated Türkiye's Hakan Buyukcingil, a European Championships bronze medalist, 7-5 in the quarterfinals. After a technical fall loss to Poland’s Kamil Kosciolek in the semifinals, Parris will wrestle India’s Rajat Ruhal for bronze.

Women’s freestyle competitors Katie Gomez (50 kg) and Areana Villaescusa (55 kg), along with men’s freestyle wrestlers Jacob Cardenas (97 kg) and Demetrius Thomas (125 kg), also saw action in the first session but dropped their opening-round matches.

Thursday’s second session, featuring men’s and women’s freestyle medal matches, begins at 6 p.m. local time/noon ET.

A live stream of the Polyák Imre, Varga János & Kozma István Memorial is available to the U.S. audience through FloWrestling. Brackets and updated results will be hosted on UWW Arena.