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Penn State Wrestling’s Nick Lee earns spot on Team USA

By Chris Snyder

Mar 20, 2021; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Nick Lee celebrates after defeating Iowa Hawkeyes wrestler Jaydin Eierman in the championship match of the 141 weight class during the finals of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 20, 2021; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Penn State Nittany Lions wrestler Nick Lee celebrates after defeating Iowa Hawkeyes wrestler Jaydin Eierman in the championship match of the 141 weight class during the finals of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports /
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Penn State Wrestling’s Nick Lee finished in 3rd place at the US Olympic wrestling trials and secures a spot in the US team for the 2021 Olympics

Hey, do you guys remember when Penn State Wrestling’s Nick Lee took home his first NCAA title back a couple of weeks ago?

The four-time NCAA All American can also add “Olympian” to his growing resume as he took home 3rd place in the 65 kg division this weekend.

The 2021 Olympic Team Trials Challenge Tournament are being held this weekend (Friday and Saturday, April 2-3) in Fort Worth, Texas.

Nick Lee came in slotted as the No. 6 seed in the stacked 65 kg bracket and he got off to a great start in winning his opening round match against No. 11 Mitch McKee. Unfortunately, Lee’s Olympic dreams took a hit as he lost to Jordan Oliver Friday evening in the 2nd round.

Then in the consolation bracket, Lee maintained his composure and won his 1st match 12-2 over Nahshon Garrett. The good news? Nick stays alive. The bad news? His next match would be against the No. 1 seed and fellow Nittany Lion brethren Zain Retherford.

I’m not sure if Zain just had a bad weekend, or if Nick is just that much better, but the match turned out to be anticlimactic as Lee went on to win the match handedly 10-4.

By winning two matches in the consolation bracket, Lee had now earned a spot in the 3rd place match and a chance to earn a spot on Team USA.

His opponent in the 3rd place match was the No. 2 seed Yianni Diakominhalis. This was not going to be an easy task.

But some how, some way, Lee was able to build on the momentum of winning several straight matches in the consolation bracket and he ended up beating Diakominhalis 16-8.

Nick Lee takes down both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, takes 3rd place, and has earned his place on Team USA in the 2021 Olympics!

What an incredible year for Nick Lee!

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