Spencer Lee claimed the NCAA title at 125 pounds (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Spencer Lee, the University of Iowa true freshman who won the 125-pound title at the 2018 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Cleveland this weekend, has been named recipient of The Hammer award by Amateur Wrestling News, the magazine announced Monday.
As AWN -- the nation's oldest publication covering amateur wrestling -- describes its award, "The Hammer is presented to that wrestler who wins what our selection panel feels was the deepest, most competitive weight class at the NCAA tournament."
"This year's choice was difficult," the magazine went on to state. "Several weights contained multiple returning NCAA champions but the 125-pound class got the nod. What a piranha tank!"
There were seven returning All Americans competing in the 125-pound bracket at the 2018 NCAAs, according to AWN, including a pair of past NCAA champs -- Darian Cruz of Lehigh, and Ohio State's Nathan Tomasello. In fact, it was the only weight class with four wrestlers who had previously competed in an NCAA final.
Lee progressed through the NCAAs with two pins and two technical fall before getting a 5-1 win over No. 4 seed -- and fellow former high school and freestyle phenom -- Nick Suriano of Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey.
Past winners of AWN's Hammer award include Logan Stieber (Ohio State), Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State), and Bo Nickal (Penn State).
Want to know more about Spencer Lee? Check out this InterMat feature on a 2017 documentary on the young wrestler.
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