Lee, Nakamura begin NCAA wrestling quest

By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Iowa State sophomore Grant Nakamura of Wailuku, Maui, right, will be in the NCAA Wrestling Championships for the second year in a row. Iowa State University

Lee, who will be chasing his second national championship, said inclement weather was expected to delay his team's flight for about five hours.

"We've just been sitting around," Lee said during a phone call from the airport. "I had some school work I had to do, so I got it out of the way."

Lee, a 2001 graduate of Honolulu's Saint Louis School from Liliha, is one of two from Hawai'i in this week's NCAA Division I Wrestling championships tomorrow to Saturday. Iowa State's Grant Nakamura (Baldwin '01) will be wrestling in the 125-pound division.

Lee, who competed at 125 last season, became the first wrestler from Hawai'i to win an NCAA Championship, upsetting then-No. 1 Chris Fleeger of Purdue in the final. He is 35-1 this season, and is the nation's top-ranked wrestler at 133 pounds.

"There's definitely more pressure because you're expected to win," he said of his top ranking.

Lee moved up in weight class because he said his body was breaking down from the amount of weight he had to lose. His normal non-training weight is 148 pounds.

Lee's only loss this season, ending a 42-match win streak, was in the first round of the Midlands Wrestling Championships in late December.

"That's been haunting me the entire season," he said.

Since then, Lee said he changed his focus.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself and think about the finals, I'm just going to go in there and focus on one match at a time," he said.

He received a bye into the second round of the NCAAs and will face Derek Moore of UC Davis tomorrow.

Lee said the NCAA meet is tougher than regular-season tournaments, which usually last two days.

"It's three days of hard-core dieting," Lee said. "That comes into play. Conditioning and mental toughness come into play the last couple of days."

Lee said despite yesterday's travel delay, the Cornell wrestling team was hoping to get in a workout before tomorrow's weigh-in.

"I think (the delay) affects us, but the way traveling has been going this year, we've run into delays almost every trip," Lee said.

Nakamura, a redshirt sophomore from Wailuku, is competing at 125 after qualifying for the second straight year.

Although unseeded, Nakamura (15-11), ranked No. 17 by InterMat, received a bye after placing third in the Big 12 tournament, and will face sophomore Drew Opfer of Kent State, who also received a bye, in tomorrow's second round.

If Nakamura advances, he is scheduled to face top-seeded Jason Powell Sr. of Nebraska, if Powell also advances. Nakamura lost to Powell in the semifinals of the Big 12 Championships, 8-2.

Dana College

Dana (Blair, Neb.) junior Brian Tsutsumi (Castle '01 of Kane'ohe) earned All-America honors at 133 pounds after placing sixth in the NAIA National Championships in February.

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2457.