Lee is already making his mark on the international scene

Andrew Hipps, Senior Writer
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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?

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.