Making First World Team Could Be Just The Start of A Fantastic Future
By Andrew Hipps “Staff Writer
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When Harry Lester walked off the mat June 19 at Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa – just after winning the 145.5 lb weight class in Greco-Roman at the World Team Trials – he was immediately greeted by a familiar face: Iowa State head coach Bobby Douglas.
“Bobby came right over and said, ‘Congratulations tonight,’ “said Lester, who will now compete at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, September 26-Oct. 2. “My first day here, Bobby worked with me and one of my teammates on a trouble spot he noticed at U.S. Nationals. ”
Just three years ago, Lester, a four-time Ohio state champion and two-time Junior Nationals champion from Cuyahoga Falls, left Iowa State and coach Douglas to pursue his Greco-Roman career. He subsequently joined the United States Olympic Education Center (USOEC) Greco-Roman program at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan. He had World and Olympic Gold Medal aspirations. Now, here he was, ironically, making his first U.S. World Team at age 21, at the very place where his post-high school wrestling career began.
“I wanted to wrestle (at Iowa State), just to wrestle on the floor one time, “Lester said in Ames. “I lost my first match in here, but I won the next two. So I guess I’m two and one here. I loved it here. I just didn’t like the wrestling. It was good to come back and wrestle in Ames. ”
“(Coach Douglas) pretty much knew that my heart wasn’t in it, “continued Lester. “He knew that I wasn’t going to be able to give one hundred percent, like he wanted, and I didn’t want to cheat our team like that either. A lot of people thought I left for many different reasons, but I knew why I left, because I wanted to be where I am right now. (Greco) is more exciting. My heart was always in it. I’ve never doubted it like I did folkstyle. I always have fun no matter what I’m doing in Greco. In folkstyle, I just did it. ”
Lester, who received an automatic berth into the best of three championship finals by winning the U.S. Nationals in April, dropped the opening match to Challenge Tournament champion Glen Garrison of the U.S. Army. But he never doubted his abilities. He had the confidence that he could come back and win the final two matches.
“If I would have doubted myself, I wouldn’t have come out there for a second match, “said Lester.
When Lester won his U.S. Nationals title, he had only one close match. That came against 2004 Olympian and top-seeded Oscar Wood of the U.S. Army, who he beat 0-1, 6-0, 1-0, in the semifinals. In the finals, he shut out veteran Marcel Cooper of the U.S. Army, 3-0, 1-0. By winning the U.S, Nationals, he became the first athlete from the U.S. Olympic Education Center program to accomplish the feat.
Lester, who began the year ranked fourth, has continued his ascent up the Greco rankings at 66 kg. In 2003, he placed fifth at the U.S. Nationals and sixth at the World Team Trials. Last year, Lester improved to fourth at the U.S. Nationals and sixth at the Olympic Team Trials (fifth in the Challenge Tournament). So far this year, he has won gold medals at the Sunkist Kids International Tournament, Dave Schultz Memorial, and the University Nationals. He brought home a silver medal at the New York AC Christmas Tournament and a bronze medal at the Petrov International Tournament in Bulgaria.
He was also recently named the USOEC 2004-05 Athlete of the Year by unanimous decision, the first time that has happened in the six years the award has been given. Lester comes from a family of six children and is majoring in history with minors in science and geography.
“Harry is steadily improving, “says USOEC Greco-Roman assistant coach Steven Goss. “He is motivated to be the best. He’ll never allow anyone to intimate him. Harry seems to be making steady progress towards Olympic Gold. ”
So what has been the biggest difference in his wrestling from last year to this year?
“The training and the (new) rules helped a lot, “said Lester. “I studied the rules a lot, practiced a lot with my coaches, and they just adapted to me well. Overall I got a lot stronger and a lot smarter from last year. ”
Goss attributes it to something different.
“Harry’s toughness is amazing, “says Goss. “I don’t think us coaches can take credit for it. He is quiet when he prepares for his matches. But I believe he is imagining destroying his opponents, which he generally does. He is easy to coach in that respect because he is almost always in his zone. If we could bottle whatever it is that makes him so tough, we most certainly would be very rich. ”
Andrew Hipps also accepts feedback at [email protected]
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