Lee won the 125-pound championship as a Cornell University sophomore in March and he's banking on more Hawai'i wrestlers winning titles in the future.

Lee, 20, is serving as guest instructor at this week's third annual Iolani Wrestling Clinic, which has more than 70 participants from fifth grade to high school. The five-day clinic began Monday and features many of the state's top coaches and wrestlers.

"There's definitely a lot of potential in this room," said Lee, who is 5 feet 5 and now weighs 145 pounds. "This is a lot of kids. The numbers have grown with girls wrestling coming in."

Hawai'i has about 2,000 to 3,000 wrestlers in the intermediate and high school ranks, according to Iolani coach Yoshi Honda. He said Lee's championship has set the standard and has brought national recognition to Hawai'i wrestling.

"It just sends a message to all the colleges that Hawai'i has talented kids who can wrestle at that level," Honda said. "If this were football or basketball, (Lee) would be walking through Waikiki signing autographs."

Brandon Low, defending state champion in the 112-pound division, said Lee's championship fills him with hope.

"To see someone from our own state win, it's very inspiring," said Low, 15, who will be a sophomore at Saint Louis in the fall. "It makes me think, I can do it too. If I train as hard as him, I can do it."

Lee's former high school coach, Todd Los Banos, compared Lee's accomplishment to that of the University of Hawai'i football team winning the national championship.

"Wrestling in Hawai'i is not as big as the Mainland," said Los Banos, an instructor at the clinic. "Not too many people know about wrestlers from Hawai'i. What Travis has done is put Hawai'i on the map with its first national (NCAA) champion. He's definitely an ambassador for the state of Hawai'i."

Low said it was encouraging to see the turnout at the clinic. "It shows how much they are dedicated to the sport," he said. "There's more people getting involved in it."

Brandee Toyama was one of several girls sharpening her skills this week. The incoming Iolani junior said she's here to bond with teammates and improve on her runner-up finish in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu and her sixth-place finish in the state championships.

"I came here to get better at wrestling and to learn techniques and styles," said Toyama, 16, who added that she wanted to learn freestyle and Greco-Roman styles.

Toyama said she aspires to be like 1999 Iolani graduate Jill Remiticado, a three-time national collegiate champion for Division III Pacific University in Oregon.

"It's easier to look to her as a role model because she's a girl in what some guys would call a guy's sport," Toyama said. "And she's actually very successful."

Remiticado, who assists the Iolani program in her free time, is a candidate for the U.S. national team Lee also has hopes of competing in the Olympics — either in Athens in 2004 or Beijing in 2008.

"I'm trying to use next year as a gauge to where I stand on the Olympic ladder," said Lee, who is majoring in biological and environmental engineering at Cornell. "I'll try for the 2004 Olympic trials. After I get out of college, I'll train for (the 2008 Games)."

As for a long-term goal, the three-time state champion would like to help groom young wrestlers.

"I do have dreams of starting a wrestling club in Hawai'i to try to get things going," he said. "But we'll see."