Lee already making mark on international scene

Travis Lee is unbelievable.

Entering last weekend, the 22-year-old Hawaiian had wrestled just one freestyle tournament since high school -- and had only been on the mat a month since winning his second NCAA title last March. He took the summer off because he had a hernia which required surgery. Nonetheless, we went on to defeat Olympic silver medalist Stephen Abas en route to his runner-up finish at the always-competitive Sunkist International Open in Tempe, Arizona.

"After my freshman year of college, I went out to Colorado Springs (to the Olympic Training Center) for a week," said Lee, who wrestles at 60 kg. "I had a chance to wrestle with Stephen Abas, Eric Guerrero, and some other great wrestlers. Obviously, I was getting beaten up at the time, so I didn't really know what to expect when I went out to the Sunkist. I knew that I had developed over the course of my college career. But I guess that I was kind of shocked by how it went, especially since I hadn't wrestled freestyle in a long time. I didn't really feel too comfortable the entire tournament. It has been a slow process getting back into my freestyle game. I'm still making that transition from collegiate style to freestyle. I felt like I made some of mistakes out at Sunkist."

Mistakes? What, beating an Olympic silver medalist?

Travis Lee defeated Stephen Abas in the semifinals of the Sunkist International Open, but lost in the finals to Saeed Azarbayjani of Canada (photo by John Sachs).

But make no mistake about it -- Lee's future in the international style appears to be extremely bright.

Cornell head coach Rob Koll, who was named 2005 Division I Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA), knows how great of a freestyler Lee can be. He also understands what international wrestling is all about. His freestyle wrestling career took him all over the world. Koll placed fifth at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo. He was also a two-time World Cup champion, two-time U.S. Nationals champion, World Grand Prix champion, Pan-American Games champion, and a 1992 U.S. Olympic alternate.

So was Koll surprised by how Lee fared at the Sunkist?

"Yeah, I was surprised," said Koll, who has coached Lee since 2001. "I thought he'd win it. I was disappointed that he didn't win it. And I'm not just saying that to be cute. I really thought he'd win it. I have a hard time seeing him do anything but win because I've seen him win so much."

Last March, Lee captured his second NCAA title by defeating Edinboro's Shawn Bunch in the 133-pound NCAA finals. His first title came in 2003 at 125 pounds. Lee, who was also a four-time All-American, became just the third Ivy League wrestler to win two NCAA titles -- and the first since 1960.

Travis Lee won the 2005 NCAA title at 133 pounds by defeating Shawn Bunch of Edinboro.

"When I won my national titles, I had completely different feelings each time," recalled Lee. "I was ecstatic my sophomore year. I was just so pumped up. I was thinking that I could maybe win three national titles and that would be amazing. But I didn't really have the tournament I wanted to have my junior year. I just wasn't focused at nationals. But my senior year, when I won, it felt like more of a relief to me than anything else. There was just so much more pressure during my senior year, being that it was my last year and my last chance to win another national title. Maybe that's why I did better -- because that pressure was there."

What makes Lee's achievements all the more impressive, though, is the fact that five years ago, not a single Division I college head coach would give him the time of day.

In 2000, Lee and his mother, Lynette, spent hours going through videotapes (both high school and Junior Nationals matches), so they could put together a compilation tape of his wrestling. They made about 20 videotapes and sent them off to all of the top Division I wrestling programs in the country. Initially, only one coach was interested.

"Oklahoma contacted me," recalled Lee, who won three state titles in Hawaii. "I think it was their assistant coach at the time, Chuck Barbee, who was interested. But he ended up moving from Oklahoma to Army. So that kind of screwed up that process. Oklahoma stopped recruiting me after he left."

So Lee decided to send an e-mail to Koll. He knew that Cornell was an Ivy League school -- which piqued his interest.

Recalls Koll: "I sent an e-mail back and said, 'Travis, please send me a video because I have absolutely no idea what being a state champion in Hawaii means.' I was being brutally honest. I wasn't trying to pat myself on the back. It was just kind of a backhand insult to the state of Hawaii. He sent me a video. So I watched it for a few minutes and then put it away. I put it away because it wasn't that impressive. He had good intensity, but it just wasn't all that impressive. He had all of his early matches on there, like from his sophomore year, but you couldn't tell from watching it. About a month goes by and I decide, just for the heck of it, to take out the video and look at it again because something struck me. It wasn't his technique, but it was his intensity. I thought, 'We'll give it a chance.' As I watched it more and more and more, I thought, 'Boy, this kid is really good.' So we committed to recruiting him."

It would be a major understatement to say that Koll is glad he did recruit Lee. Not only has Lee accomplished more than any other wrestler in Ivy League history (no other Ivy League wrestler had ever been a four-time All-American), but he has also become a symbol for the rising Cornell program -- a program that finished fourth in the country last season.

Lee is quick to give credit to his coaches and teammates for his success -- specifically Koll and Cornell assistant coach Steve Garland.

Steve Garland and Rob Koll

"Both Rob and Steve have been vital to my development as a wrestler," said Lee. "Having Rob there was great because he's been through that. He was a national champion and a four-time All-American. He just has great credentials. Having him there, not necessarily wrestling with me every day, but having him there to analyze videos and technique was so important. It was just nice having someone to talk to that has already been through the process and knows what it's like at the World level. I think that was a big part. With Steve, he was my training partner most of my career. When I first got to Cornell, he really took the initiative to really try to develop me and help me become a great Division I college wrestler. I owe a lot to him for that. There were other workout partners along the way that helped me, like Jamar (Billman) and a lot of my teammates."

Lee graduated last spring with a bachelor's degree in biological engineering. He is now in graduate school at Cornell working on his master's degree in the same area of study -- and also serving as a volunteer assistant coach.

This past year, Cornell inked one of the top recruiting classes in the country, led by five-time New York state champion, Troy Nickerson, who was the Asics High School Wrestler of the Year in 2005, and Adam Frey, a Junior Nationals double champion. Koll thinks having Lee in the program helped entice those recruits.

"Having Travis around is obviously great for recruiting," said Koll. "But once you get the kids in the room, he inspires them by his work ethic and the fact that he's so technically sound. If you're wrestling him, and you make any mistakes, he's going to exploit those mistakes. So just by wrestling with him every day, they're going to make natural adjustments, above and beyond what he teaches them."

Lee has enjoyed working out with both Nickerson and Frey since they have arrived on campus. Nickerson will wrestle at 125 pounds and Frey will wrestle at 141 pounds.

"It has been great working out with them," said Lee. "It's good for me and it's good for them. I get new, fresh workout partners. And it's good for them because I can help them progress in their college careers. I really think they're going to make a big impact on the team really quickly. A lot of times, in the first few months, it's just about getting past those high school mistakes and really adapting to college wrestling. I think both of them have the ability to do that right away, assuming they stay injury-free."

Lee is also a very accomplished Greco wrestler, having won a Junior Nationals Greco title after his senior year of high school. But right now, he has decided that his focus is going to be strictly on freestyle.

"I definitely like Greco a lot," said Lee. "But since I started wrestling freestyle, I don't know. To train at this kind of level, you really have to choose between one or the other. I thought it would be an easier transition coming from collegiate to freestyle. I love both styles, but I really want to do well at freestyle first."

Lee is planning to wrestle in as many freestyle tournaments as possible this season. Or as many as his busy schedule allows. He says, "The more matches I get, the more beneficial it's going to be." He has his sights set on the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

"After my master's program is done, I'm really thinking about concentrating and focusing the next two and a half to three years to train for 2008," said Lee.

Lee also has aspirations of someday opening up his own wrestling club in Hawaii.

"It's kind of funny, there are tons of judo clubs in Hawaii, but the number of wrestling clubs is really minimal," said Lee. "That is something I was thinking about starting down the road."

Regardless of what the future holds for Lee, Koll believes he has already set a precedent for future generations.

"He's doing exactly what we preached you could do," said Koll. "You can have a world-class education and prepare for your career at the highest level, but also train for the Olympics. In the past, people have had the Big Ten mentality, where you can't do it anywhere else. He is showing that simply is not true."

Sign In

Lee already making mark on international scene

User Feedback

Recommended Comments

Create an account or sign in to comment

Create an account

Sign in

Categories

Rankings

Browse

Activity

Support