Nick Lee

Nicholas Boone Lee (born March 12, 1998) is an American freestyle and former folkstyle wrestler who competes at 65 kilograms. He is also an assistant coach for the Penn State wrestling team. In freestyle, he is a Pan American champion and a US National champion. Lee represented the United States at 65 kg at the 2023 World Championships.

In folkstyle, Lee was a two-time NCAA Division I National champion and a Big Ten Conference champion out of the Pennsylvania State University.

Career

High school A native of Evansville, Indiana, Lee attended Mater Dei High School, where he was a IHSAA state champion along with his two brothers Joe and Matt. In freestyle, he was a two-time Fargo National champion.

A Penn State commit, Lee decided to forego his senior year and graduated early in order to train at the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club.

Pennsylvania State University

2016–2017 While not officially attending the Pennsylvania State University, Lee went 2–2 at the Bill Farrell Memorial International in freestyle in November 2016. In February of the following year, Lee placed third at the Edinboro Open while wrestling unattached. Back to freestyle, Lee placed fifth at the U20 US Nationals. Lee also beat Sammy Sasso at Who's Number 1 and Kanen Storr in the Fargo Finals to affirm his ranking of #1 in the country his senior year.

2017–2018 Competing under a redshirt, Lee placed first at the Mat Town Open, second at the Southern Scuffle and Clarion Open, and third at the Binghamtom Open. In January, Lee's redshirt was pulled, competing as a true freshman instead.

After a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships, he became an All-American with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA tournament, closing off the year at 32–7. Lee then competed at the U20 US World Team Trials, placing second.

2018–2019 During the regular season of his sophomore year, Lee claimed titles from the Southern Scuffle and Keystone Classic. At the Big Ten Championships he once again placed third, before repeating as an All-American with another fifth-place finish at the NCAA tournament to close off the year at 31–4.

2019–2020 In the midst of folkstyle season, Lee placed third at the 2019 US National Championships with notable wins over Olympian Frank Molinaro, US National runner-up Jaydin Eierman and NCAA runner-up Ethan Lizak, qualifying for the US Olympic Team Trials.

After winning the Black Knight Invitational during regular season, Lee improved to a second-place finish at the Big Ten Championships to close out the year at 20–1. The NCAA championships were then cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving Lee, the second-seed, and all other wrestlers unable to compete.

2020–2021 After several months off competition, Lee won two freestyle matches at the NLWC III and NLWC IV. Back to folkstyle, Lee placed second at the Big Ten tournament before becoming an NCAA National champion, defeating Eierman in the finals, whom he lost to in the Big Ten finals. Lee closed out the year at 13–1.

Fresh as an NCAA champion, Lee competed at the rescheduled US Olympic Team Trials in April, securing a prestigious third-place finish with a lone loss to two-time NCAA champion Jordan Oliver, and notable wins over three-time NCAA champion Zain Retherford, two-time U17 World champion Yianni Diakomihalis, NCAA champion Nahshon Garrett and U20 World finalist Mitch McKee.

2021–2022 Lee went undefeated during his senior year of collegiate wrestling, becoming a two-time NCAA champion and a Big Ten champion with a 21–0 record. Lee was then named the Penn State Male Athlete of the Year, and closed off his career as a two-time NCAA champion and a four-time All-American with a record of 116–13.

Back to freestyle, Lee was unable to place at the US World Team Trials Challenge tournament in May. In November, he placed second at the Bill Farrell Memorial, notably defeating U23 World silver medalist Adlan Askarov in the first round.

2023 To start off January, Lee placed seventh at the Grand Prix Zagreb Open, defeating eventual 2023 World finalist Sebastian Rivera before falling to eventual 2023 World champion Ismail Musukaev. On April, Lee became the US Open National champion, with wins over two-time Pan American champion Joseph McKenna and U20 World medalist Beau Bartlett, qualifying for Final X.

At Final X, in June, Lee defeated four-time NCAA champion Yianni Diakomihalis in two close matches to make the US World Team. In July, Lee made the Polyák Imre & Varga János Memorial finals, with wins over World medalist Alibek Osmonov and European medalist Islam Dudaev, before falling to World medalist Tömör-Ochiryn Tulga.

At the World Championships, Lee advanced with wins over European medalist Krzysztof Bienkowski, NCAA All-American Austin Gomez and U20 World champion Umidjon Jalolov, before being eliminated by returning World champion Rahman Amouzad, placing seventh in his first showing at the tournament.

2024 To start off February, Lee beat rival Yianni Diakomihalis on points in a US Pan American Qualifier wrestle-off, before Diakomihalis forfeited the next match due to injury.

He then competed at the Pan American Championships later in the month, claiming the gold medal. At the Pan American Olympic Qualification Tournament, Lee was defeated by Mexico's Austin Gomez and was therefore unable to qualify the weight for the United States.

In April, he competed at the US Olympic Team Trials as the top-seed, where after defeating two-time Pan American champion Alec Pantaleo and two-time US National champion Andrew Alirez, he fell to reigning World champion and teammate Zain Retherford in two straight matches to place second.

In May, Lee was named an assistant coach of the Penn State wrestling team under head coach Cael Sanderson. Despite his new position, Lee emphasized that he was "definitely not retired" from competition.

Freestyle record

Res. Record Opponent Score Date Event Location Loss 36–14

Moscow, Russia

Loss 36–13

Loss 36–12

Win 36–11

Win 35–11

Loss 34–11

Acapulco, Mexico

Win

Acapulco, Mexico Win 34–10

Win 33–10

Win

Denver, Colorado Win 32–10

Loss 31–10

Belgrade, Serbia Win 31–9

Win 30–9

Win 29–9

Loss 28–9

Budapest, Hungary Win 28–8

Win 27–8

Win 26–8

Win 25–8

Newark, New Jersey Win 24–8

Win 23–8

Las Vegas, Nevada Win 22–8

Win 21–8

Win 20–8

Win 19–8

Loss 18–8

Zagreb, Croatia Win 18–7

Loss 17–7

New York City, New York Win 17–6

Win 16–6

Win 15–6

Loss 14–6

Coralville, Iowa Loss 14–5

Win 14–4

Win 13–4

Win 12–4

Fort Worth, Texas Win 11–4

Win 10–4

Loss 9–4

Win 9–3

Win 8–3

State College, Pennsylvania Win 7–3

Win

Fort Worth, Texas Win 6–3

Loss 5–3

Win 5–2

Win 4–2

Win 3–2

Loss 2–2

New York City, New York Win 2–1

Loss 1–1

Win 1–0