Lee, a senior from Franklin Regional High going for his fourth PIAA crown, lost to fellow senior Austin DeSanto of Exeter in the PIAA Class 3A 126-pound finals, 6-5.
It was Lee's first loss in 145 matches in high school.
DeSanto scored two takedowns in the last half-minute, the final one at the buzzer after releasing Lee to go for the winning takedown, the Reading Eagle reported. DeSanto gave the unbeaten Lee a battle throughout the match, then tied the score with 29 seconds left with a takedown to become Exeter's first state champ. DeSanto, who has committed to Drexel University, finished his senior year 53-0 and completed his prep career with a 188-7 record.
DeSanto avenged a loss to Lee by technical fall in the 120-pound finals at last year's PIAA championships.
Lee committed to University of Iowa for the 2017-18 season after having considered Penn State, Ohio State, North Carolina State, University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford. He is seeking a career in Sports Administration.
Just three days ago -- prior to the start of the 2017 PIAA championships -- PennLive.com wrote a feature article on Spencer Lee with the attention-getting headline: "Is Spencer Lee the world's best wrestler?"citing these accomplishments in the opening paragraph -- a four-time WPIAL champion, three-time world champion, three-time Pennsylvania State champion -- concluding with "and undoubtedly one of the greatest wrestlers in the world."
Update: As seen on the video, Lee was wearing a leg brace, having suffered a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) prior to the finals.
"I'm excited but at the same time I wrestled a hurt Spencer Lee," DeSanto said. "You could see his knee, he was favoring it the whole time. I just kind of feel bad for him. But at the same time, I'm excited for myself. I worked every day after that tech fall [loss in the 2016 PIAA finals] to beat him and I got my dream I guess."
DeSanto was named the event's Outstanding Wrestler.
Meanwhile, Spencer Lee's father offered an explanation of his son's injury and how it did not stop him from wrestling.
"He didn't want his career to end in a doctor's office," Larry Lee said. "I'm proud of him for making that call. We have an appointment next week to see what type of damage was done to (his knee) the last three weeks and just to see what the answer is. But no excuses, he wrestled the best he could on this day."
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