A long journey ends with a title
By Lori Shontz
Of the Post-Dispatch
After losing in the NCAA semifinals at 133 pounds a year ago, Travis Lee of Cornell learned a universal truth. “It’s a lot easier to cut weight when you win, “he said, “then when you lose. “
As he cycled and sweated, Lee had plenty of time to think. He is an engineering major, and his analytical mind attacked the loss as if it were a physics problem. Had he calculated the wrong strategy? Failed to deal with the pressure of being a defending champion, albeit at 125 pounds? Simply made a mistake?
Lee decided his mind had let him down. He determined that this season, as a senior, he would let nothing distract him from his training, an especially difficult task for someone who juggles not only long hours of practice and one of the most difficult majors, but a job doing microfluidic research for 10 to 20 hours a week.
He practiced deep breathing. He emptied his mind of equations. He even stayed in Ithaca, N.Y., for Christmas, figuring that the long trip home to Honolulu would be a distraction.
And everything paid off Saturday evening at Savvis Center, when he beat Edinboro’s Shaun Bunch 6-3 to win the 133-pound title at the NCAA Division I wrestling championships.
Lee, a senior, is the only Ivy Leaguer to earn All-America honors four times, an honor even more impressive considering that when he sent a recruiting videotape of himself to Cornell, coach Rob Koll for five minutes and relegated it to the closet.
A couple of months later, Koll pulled the tape out again. He doesn’t know why. “His technique wasn’t where we wanted it to be, “Koll said. “But there was something special about him, an intensity you can’t teach. “
That’s what Koll loves to see. In his 12 seasons at Cornell – which doesn’t offer athletic scholarships, has high academic standards and hasn’t been a wrestling powerhouse – he has no choice but to take some long shots. “Recruiting is like a funnel, “he said, demonstrating with his hands how the talent pool narrows quickly. “So we comb the country looking for smart, poor kids. “
In Lee, he found an athlete who didn’t start wrestling until the eighth grade. Lee began doing judo at age 5, though, and he had always wanted to wrestle. The state, however, is not known as a wrestling powerhouse, and Lee had to hustle to better himself.
“At first, all I did was judo moves, “he said.
Top training partners were hard to come by. National-level tournaments required a flight to the mainland. For his 18th birthday, Lee’s present was an all-expense paid trip to Delaware for the high school nationals.
Despite the difficulties, Lee excelled. In 2001, he became the first Hawaiian wrestler to win a junior national championship, and he won two – freestyle and Greco-Roman.
Still, Koll wasn’t sure if Lee were worth the risk. He told Lee that he had no idea how good Hawaii wrestling was, not that the lack of knowledge stopped him from soliciting a tape from Lee, a three-time Hawaii state champion. Cornell coaches write to all state champions.
Lee and his mother made 20 videotapes and sent them across the country. Only Cornell and Oklahoma responded, and he chose Cornell because of the school’s academic program and the fact that former All-American Steve Garland was the team’s lightweight coach.
Much in Ithaca was different. For example, Lee had never even owned a coat. But he adjusted quickly, finishing seventh at the NCAA tournament. As a sophomore, he capped a 34-0 season with the 125-pound NCAA title.
And then things changed again. First, he moved up to 133 pounds. Second, he attracted more attention than ever before, as even the national wrestling media began calling Lee for interviews.
Lee opened that season with a loss in the Midlands tournament, something he attributed to going home for Christmas. He flew from Honolulu to Chicago and began competing the next day, and he wasn’t ready. But he went undefeated during the dual-meet season, and he kept his record perfect until his NCAA tournament semifinal loss. He wound up in fifth place.
“I think for the first time in his life, the pressure got to him, “Koll said.
So for his final season, Lee minimized distractions. A friend who lived near Ithaca invited him to celebrate Christmas, and his friend’s family bought him presents and hung a stocking with his name on it. He focused so well that headed into the NCAA final, he had lost only once – to his opponent, Bunch.
But he wasn’t wrestling as well as he wanted. The Friday before the tournament, Lee injured his elbow in practice, and he hadn’t wrestled live for six days before Thursday’s opening round. Wrestling with his arm wrapped limited his mobility and quickness, so starting in the semifinals, he competed without it.
Against Bunch the first time, Lee was aggressive, and Bunch took advantage. This time, Lee curbed his aggressive impulses, and the result was his second NCAA title.
The circumstances were far different than when he won the first title. “I came into this tournament seeded No. 1, “he said. “This year I felt I felt a lot more nervous. Being my last one, I had to go out and give it all I had. “
The victory was even sweeter because it meant so much to the team that had taken a chance on him. Cornell placed fourth overall, its best finish since 1953, and had three additional All-Americans: 149-pounder Dustin Manotti, 174-pounder Joe Mazzurco and 184-pounder Tyler Baier.
“I think a lot of people take Cornell for granted because it’s an Ivy League school, “Lee said. “But we’re bringing two of the greatest things together, academics and wrestling.”
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