2021 NCAA All-American Brayton Lee (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com; Graphic/Anna-Lee Marie)Welcome to a new recurring feature from InterMat as we lead into the 2021-22 collegiate season. We are about 50 days away from the start of the new season, so what better way to ring in the new year than to use that time to count down the top-50 current collegiate wrestlers. Each day a new wrestler will be released.
These rankings have been compiled by members of the InterMat staff and used a combination of collegiate achievements, with 2021 accomplishments carrying more weight than past years, along with win-loss records and notable wins. While we are counting down the top-50 wrestlers based primarily on collegiate accomplishments, it is impossible to totally ignore achievements in the international settings, so they did factor in slightly, too.
Before getting to the next wrestler on the list, look at the wrestlers previously profiled:
#50 - Greg Kerkvliet (Penn State)
#49 - Ben Darmstadt (Cornell)
#48 - Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)
#47 - Kaleb Young (Iowa)
#46 - Rocky Elam (Missouri)
#45 - Chad Red Jr. (Nebraska)
#44 - Brandon Courtney (Arizona State)
#43 - Brock Mauller (Missouri)
#42 - Cohlton Schultz (Arizona State)
#41 - John Poznanski (Rutgers)
Next is…
Brayton Lee (Minnesota)
Weight: 157 lbs
Year: Sophomore
Career Record: 39-12
Hometown: Brownsburg, Indiana
College Accomplishments: 2021 NCAA 6th Place, 2020 NWCA 1st Team All-American, 2021 Big Ten 3rd Place
2021-22 Preseason Ranking: #5 at 157 lbs
The 2018 recruiting class for the Minnesota Golden Gophers will be best remembered as it was the year they signed top-recruit and future Olympic gold medalist, Gable Steveson. But, during that same class, the Gopher staff also inked a big-time recruit from Indiana in #13 Brayton Lee. Through two years of collegiate competition, Lee has carved out an impressive career in his own right.
Unlike Steveson, Lee sat for his initial year in Minneapolis and took a redshirt. Lee was extremely active during his redshirt campaign and saw action in 33 bouts. He came away a winner in 26 of those bouts and won two tournaments (North Country Open and the National Collegiate Open). Lee's most significant win during the redshirt season was over Penn's Anthony Artalona at the Midlands. Artalona went on to finish in the NCAA Round of 12 later that year.
After his redshirt season, Lee earned a place on the 2019 Junior World Team after defeating Ohio State redshirt Sammy Sasso. The Buckeye jumped out to a big lead, but Lee battled back and grabbed match one, 11-8. The two had also met during their redshirt seasons and Sasso was victorious, 6-4.
Lee's official collegiate debut came against two-time returning NCAA qualifier Russell Rohlfing (CSU Bakersfield). The youngster was able to outlast the veteran in an 8-7 win. Following that win, Lee reeled off seven more victories before suffering a loss to returning AA Boo Lewallen (Oklahoma State).
It's safe to say Lee rebounded nicely from his first collegiate setback as his next event was the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Just to make the finals, Lee took out notables like Josh Maruca (Arizona State), Brock Zacherl (Clarion), and All-American Max Thomsen (Northern Iowa). For the title, he'd face….Sasso, again. Lee was able to take this round from his Buckeye rival to the tune of 6-4.
Less than two months later, Sasso and Lee would clash again. A 4-2 win for Sasso, coupled with a win over Pat Lugo that same weekend, would give the Buckeye the national #1 ranking. Speaking of Lugo, he handed Lee a 3-2 loss down the stretch of the Big Ten dual season, also.
At his first Big Ten Championship event, Lee fell victim to Lugo again in the semifinals, 4-1. The young Gopher would lose again, this time for third place, against a surging Collin Purinton (Nebraska), 3-0.
That loss to Purinton didn't entirely crush Lee's NCAA seed as he was awarded the #6 slot. Since Covid stuck, Lee couldn't compete in front of his new hometown fans in Minneapolis. He was slated to meet #27 Yahya Thomas (Northwestern) in the opening round. The pair did not see each other in the regular season or the conference meet. A win over Thomas would have set up a match with #11 Zacherl/#22 Tanner Smith (Chattanooga). Sasso would have likely been looming as the #3 seed in the quarterfinals.
After the season, Lee was named a first-team NWCA All-American.
The 2021 season saw Lee move up to 157 lbs, so the rivalry with Sasso would be put on hold. Brayton got off to a solid 3-0 start in January before losing a nailbiter to Iowa All-American Kaleb Young in tiebreakers. Just over a week later, Lee got back on track by downing Purdue star Kendall Coleman. 3-2. He continued to win until the final match of the dual season when undefeated Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) handed him the most lopsided loss of his collegiate career, 12-0.
Lee narrowly missed a trip to the Big Ten finals after suffering another close loss to Young in tiebreakers. He rebounded to take third after a clutch sudden victory win over Brady Berge (Penn State) and an 8-3 win over Chase Saldate (Michigan State).
For the second straight year, Lee was named the sixth seed at the NCAA Championships. As is normally the case, the Gopher grinded out a pair of wins in the first two rounds, 2-0 over Connor Brady (Virginia Tech) and 4-3 over Jacori Teemer (Arizona State). That set the stage for a quarterfinal meeting with undefeated third seed, David Carr (Iowa State). It's probably no solace to Lee, but he wrestled Carr closer than any opponent all year, before a 4-2 loss in sudden victory. Carr would go on to capture the NCAA title.
Lee would drop to the NCAA Round of 12 and had #7 Jarrett Jacques (Missouri) standing between him and All-American status. The Gopher would get by Jacques 4-1 and secure a spot on the podium. Next up, Lee exorcised some past demons with a 3-2 victory over Young, which gave him a place in the top-six. Old friend Deakin made sure Lee did not advance any future with another major decision loss. Lee's season came to a close after he fell to NC State's Hayden Hidlay 11-2 in the NCAA fifth-place bout.
Strengths: Lee has an old-school style about him that makes you think he could have fit into Minnesota's national title-winning teams of the early and mid-2000's. He has a great gas tank and gets better as the match progresses. Lee has your basic attacks from the feet and an excellent feel for his reattacks. Since Lee typically wrestles very close bouts against top competition, he is a strong rider. Defensively, his handfighting skills and baseline defense make him difficult to score against. But, don't underestimate his scrambling ability either.
2021-22 Outlook: Lee has demonstrated that he can hang with the best in the country, excluding the bad stylistic matches against Deakin. In a big tournament setting, he's capable of turning it into a fistfight and advancing against the likes of Carr, Austin O'Connor (North Carolina) and the rest of the upper-echelon of title contenders at 157 lbs. It would be surprising to see Lee finish much lower than his current preseason ranking (5th).
2021 NCAA All-American Brayton Lee (Photo/Sam Janicki; SJanickiPhoto.com; Graphic/Anna-Lee Marie)
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