ASSOCIATED PRESS Saint Louis School alum Travis Lee, left, of Cornell defeated Edinboro's Shawn Bunch for the 133-pound title yesterday.

Lee wins second
NCAA title

The Saint Louis School alum
finishes his Cornell career
winning at 133 pounds

The bitterness of a defeat last year made Travis Lee's victory yesterday that much sweeter.

Oklahoma State wins its third straight title ST. LOUIS » Heavyweight Steve Mocco's overtime takedown wrapped up an undefeated season and a perfect finals for Oklahoma State, which won all five of its matches to run away with its third straight NCAA wrestling championship last night. The Cowboys also got titles from Zack Esposito at 149 pounds, Johny Hendricks at 165, Chris Pendleton at 174 and Jake Rosholt at 197 to tie the NCAA record of five championships set by Iowa in 1997. "This team, this weekend, gave the extra effort in every way," coach John Smith said. "In every tough situation, we excelled. It's my best team score-wise and effort-wise." Oklahoma State, which has won three straight championships for the first time since 1954-56, finished with 153 points and a 50-point cushion over runner-up Michigan. Oklahoma (77 1/2) was third, followed by Cornell (76 1/2) and Minnesota (72 1/2). The event began with an upset, with fifth seed Joe Dubuque of Indiana edging third seed Kyle Ott of Illinois in a defensive bout, the score reflecting a lack of action. Dubuque won a similar low-scoring match to upset top-seeded Sam Hazewinkel of Oklahoma 3-1 in the semifinals. Associated Press

The Cornell senior ended a distinguished college wrestling career by winning his second national title yesterday, defeating Shawn Bunch of Edinboro (Pa.) 6-3 in the 133-pound final at the NCAA wrestling championships at the Savvis Center in St. Louis.

"It's the end of my college career, so it feels great to come out on top," Lee said after becoming only the second Cornell wrestler to win two national championships.

Lee, a Saint Louis School graduate, won his first NCAA title at 125 pounds as a sophomore and was the top seed at 133 as a junior. He was upset in the quarterfinals at last year's championships and turned the disappointment into motivation for his senior season.

He entered this year's tournament again as the top seed and was determined to avoid the mistakes that led to a fifth-place finish a year ago.

"I just tried to stay focused," Lee said. "That's what I did my sophomore year and that's what I didn't do my junior year. I just tried to stay focused on my match and tried not to worry about anyone else.

"It's hard to stay focused (as the top seed). You have to take it one match at a time and it's easy to think ahead to the finals. That's the one thing I focused on. You can't ever overlook anyone."

Lee completed his senior season 37-1, with his only loss coming against Bunch earlier this year. Bunch (40-2, with both losses coming against Lee) defeated Lee in their prior meeting this season, but Lee got out to a 2-0 lead yesterday and was able to hold on for the win.

"I wrestled him a couple of times, so I knew what he was coming at me with and I was ready for it," Lee said. "I stuck to my game plan and wrestled well.

"There was a little payback and I had to keep focused on the match because I knew he wasn't going to be a pushover."

Lee ended his Cornell career as the winningest wrestler in both Big Red and Ivy League history with a 143-13 record. He is also the first Ivy League wrestler to win All-America honors four times.

Lee said he's been accepted to Cornell's Masters of Engineering program and plans to help the Big Red squad as a coach next season while also exploring possibilities with the national team.

Lee's performance helped Cornell post its highest team finish in 52 years. The Big Red's 76.5 points was good for fourth place. Oklahoma State rolled to the national championship with 153 points.