Lee aims for NCAA wrestling title

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

The expectations of wrestler Travis Lee and his coaches at Cornell (N.Y.) University this season are simple:

LEE

"Nothing less," says Lee, a sophomore and 2001 graduate of Saint Louis School from Liliha.

"We expect him to win nationals this year," Cornell coach Rob Koll said yesterday. "He is as good or tougher than anyone."

When the first NCAA Division I rankings of 2003 are published this month, Lee should be No. 1 in his 125-pound weight class, USA Wrestling communications director Gary Abbott said Monday.

Hawai'i high school coaches polled for Homegrown Report agreed unanimously that no wrestler from Hawai'i has ever reached that pinnacle.

Lee made an emphatic statement about his rightful place in college wrestling's hierarchy Sunday night when he dominated the current No.-1 ranked 125-pounder, Luke Eustice of Iowa, by a 9-3 score in the finals of the 40th Midlands Championships.

Eustice was the 2002 NCAA runner-up; Lee finished seventh as a freshman.

The Midlands, held at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the United States. Last weekend's field included 18 of the 25 top-ranked college teams, and established stars like three-time NCAA 174-pound champion Joe Williams of Iowa.

Williams won an unprecedented ninth Midlands title, but so impressive was Lee's victory in the 125-pound final that the tournament's nine other winners elected him "Champion of Champions."

"He is only going to get better," Cornell's Koll predicted. "He is so mentally tough that he doesn't care who he is wrestling.

"He wrestles just as hard in the third period as he does in the first period; very few do that. He has an unbelievable amount of heart."

In Sunday's final, Lee took a 4-0 lead in the first period with a takedown on an inside trip and a near-fall on a suck-back move. Eustice never got closer than 4-2.

Lee essentially clinched victory with a takedown on a knee-pick from an underhook position at the edge of the mat with 1:28 left in the third period to take a 7-2 lead.

"We were coming up from out of bounds, and I know that a lot of people unintentionally let up in that situation," Lee explained. "I was in the underhook position, one of the better positions where I like to be."

Lee frosted the victory by putting Eustice on his back during a scramble for a 9-3 final score.

"I knew he would come at me hard, so I knew if I was patient enough and didn't rush anything, I could wait for him to make mistakes and capitalize on them," Lee said.

In the tournament's earlier rounds, he had "wrestled tentative," Lee said, but won three close matches, including 3-1 in overtime over No. 8 A.J. Grant of Michigan in a semifinal.

Lee is unbeaten this season and won tournaments in November at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y., and at Chapel Hill, N.C., where he beat No. 7 Chris Rodrigues of North Carolina in the final.

This weekend, at the Lone Star Duals in Dallas, Lee will go against more nationally ranked opponents, including No. 3 Jason Powell of Nebraska and No. 11 Bo Maynes of Oklahoma.

Powell beat Lee twice last season, including at the NCAA championship tournament. He is the only foe Lee has not beaten in a return match after losing.

TAKEDOWNS: Travis Lee was one of two true-freshmen to earn All-America status in NCAA Division I last season. ... He spent six weeks during the summer at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, working mainly with 2002 NCAA champion Stephen Abas of Fresno State. ... Lee earned a 2.8 grade-point average in his freshman year at Cornell; he is a biological and environmental engineering major. Lee won his last 112 high-school matches and three state championships at Saint Louis. He won the USA Junior National Greco-Roman and freestyle championships in 2001. ... Iowa State redshirt freshman Grant Nakamura (Baldwin '01) lost to Luke Eustice in the second round at Midlands by injury default. ... The Midlands Championships highlights are scheduled to be televised on Fox Sports Jan. 11.