Never Satisfied
The most successful wrestler in Ivy League history is already looking for his next challenge: Beijing 2008.
Honestly, Travis Lee can’t remember the last time he was taken down in a wrestling match. It might have been in preseason this year, but he’s not sure, and even the question sounds foreign to him. That’s how he good he is. Notching his 135th career victory in February, Lee became the most successful wrestler in Cornell history. Eight matches later, winning the national championship for the second time in three years, Lee became the most successful wrestler in Ivy League history.
“It’s a great feeling, being up on that podium,” says Lee, a senior majoring in biological and environmental engineering, relaxing at home on his first spring break in years. “And it’s a relief too, to know that the season is finally over, because there’s been a lot of pressure.”
Much of that pressure comes from Lee, whose motto is “never be satisfied,” and even after his second championship, it’s hard for him to admit more than, “I’m happy, happy with my college career, but no, I’m not satisfied.” Still, some of that pressure has come from outside, and as he’s tried to balance Division I wrestling with Cornell Engineering, he’s missed his share of classes and learned that some professors are more forgiving than others.
For most of his four years at Cornell, Lee has spent 15 to 20 hours a week on wrestling, with one workout in the morning and another in the afternoon. But even when he’s not working out, he’s thinking about wrestling, replaying matches in his head, watching videotapes to improve his technique, visualizing his next contest, and training his body to drop weight—usually about 10 pounds, shed over four days—before the next meet.
Growing up in Hawaii as the youngest of three boys, Travis started wrestling as soon as he could chase his brothers around the house. “Obviously, my parents weren’t too happy about us always getting into fights,” he says, “but I think it helped me become a competitor.” By 5 years old, Travis was channeling his aggression into judo, and by 12, he was good enough to become a junior national champion, but still too small to beat his brothers. So in eighth grade, he started wrestling competitively and hasn’t stopped.
Drawn to Cornell by the dream of training with head coach Rob Koll, Lee arrived in town without a single piece of warm clothing. He braved that first mild winter, compiling a 33-9 record as a freshman, then topped it as a sophomore with a perfect 34-0, upsetting the favorite to win the NCAA championship at 125 pounds. For Lee, the surprise wasn’t that he’d won, but how quickly he’d done it. “I always thought I would become a national champion,” says Lee, “but I never expected to do it my second year.”
Moving up to 133 pounds as a junior, Lee took a hard loss in the NCAA quarterfinals, but hasn’t been surprised since. At his normal weight of 143, he’s tight as a spring, speaking softly but radiating confidence. He’s not sure if engineering has made him a better wrestler, but he knows wrestling has made him a better engineer.
“The hard work and determination that we take from wrestling allows us to pursue pretty much anything in life,” says Lee. “We’ve been through so many hard workouts, and the coaches keep testing us to see how far we can go, pushing us to our limits. Being able to stay focused, to show that kind of determination, that persistence, is what helps push me through all the engineering work.”
With the nationals behind him, Lee plans to concentrate on academics again and expects to stay at Cornell until he finishes his M.Eng. degree in May 2006. The extra year will give him a chance to keep working out with the team, retool his technique to fit the rules of amateur competition, and wrestle at his first international tournaments.
After that, the future is much less clear. He’s enjoyed his major, especially the coursework in fluid mechanics and an internship last summer at Kionix, which he calls his “first full-blown research experience, finally getting to see where all this biology and chemistry come into play.” But the dream of competing at the 2008 Olympics is much clearer than any sense of what he might do with his engineering degree. “Now that I don’t have to worry about practice every day, life will be a lot less stressful,” he says. “Going into the finals, I knew this was my last chance for another title. So winning meant a lot, but I always think I can do more. That’s my mindset, and helps push me to the next level.
“I’m not sure where my interests are going to fall,” he says, “but right now, I can focus on finishing school.”
—Kenny Berkowitz
