Friday, May 25, 2001
[ HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS ] Travis Lee adds Travis Lee's dominance on the mat for St. Louis earned him a place in the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as the Hawaii recipient of the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award.
Hall of Fame to
wrestling honors
The St. Louis wrestler
is off to the mainland to
continue his career
Star-Bulletin staffThe award is given to a senior in each state based on wrestling success, academic achievement and community service. The honor also puts Lee in contention for the hall of fame's five regional and national awards. The national winner will be announced June 2.
"Now that everything is all done and over, getting rewarded is really nice," Lee said. "It's just payback for all the hard work I've put in."
Lee, who will graduate from St. Louis tomorrow and enroll at Cornell University in the fall, won his third state championship in the 130-pound weight class in February. He suffered his only loss in local competition as a freshman in the 1998 state finals. He also won the 132-pound division title at the Interscholastic League of Honolulu judo championships May 5.
He will spend part of his summer in Colorado -- at the U.S. Olympic Training Center July 1-8. Lee will also appear on a poster distributed by USA Wrestling as one of this year's high school All-Americans.
While he will get a taste of Olympic-caliber training this summer, Lee said competing in the Olympics remains a distant goal. "I'm just looking forward to college," he said. "And if I do well in college maybe I'll look to the Olympics afterward."
St. Louis coach Todd Los Banos credits Lee's success on the national level for opening doors for other local wrestlers to compete in top level meets. Last year, Los Banos took four local wrestlers to the USA Wrestling National Championships. This year, 19 others will join Lee at the meet in Fargo, N.D., which opens July 21.
"What he's done for the state of Hawaii in the sport of wrestling is just awesome," Los Banos said. "Getting these awards is great for Travis, but it's great for the state too."
Hawaii School Web Sites