Nick Lee

Personal information
Full name	Nicholas Boone Lee
Born	(1998-03-12) March 12, 1998 (age 26) Evansville, Indiana, U.S.
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Wrestling
Event(s)	Freestyle and Folkstyle
College team	Penn State Nittany Lions
Club	Nittany Lion Wrestling Club
Team	USA
Coached by	Cael Sanderson
Medal record Men's freestyle wrestling Representing the  United States Pan American Championships 2024 Acapulco 65 kg Grand Prix 2023 Budapest 65 kg US National Championships 2023 Las Vegas 65 kg 2019 Fort Worth 65 kg Collegiate Wrestling Representing the Penn State Nittany Lions NCAA Division I Championships 2021 St. Louis 141 lb 2022 Detroit 141 lb Big Ten Championships 2022 Lincoln 141 lb 2020 Piscataway 141 lb 2021 State College 141 lb 2018 East Lansing 141 lb 2019 Minneapolis 141 lb

Nicholas Boone Lee (born March 12, 1998) is an American freestyle and former folkstyle wrestler who competes at 65 kilograms. In freestyle, he is a Pan American champion and a US National champion.^[1] Lee represented the United States at 65 kg at the 2023 World Wrestling 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.^[2]

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.^[3] In freestyle, Lee was a two-time Fargo National champion.^[4]

A Penn State commit, Lee decided to forego his senior year and graduated early in order to train at the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club.^[5]

While not officially attending the Pennsylvania State University, Lee went 2–2 at the Bill Farrell Memorial International in freestyle in November 2016.^[6] In February of the following year, Lee placed third at the Edinboro Open while wrestling unattached.^[7] Back to freestyle, Lee placed fifth at the U20 US Nationals.^[8] 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.

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.^[9] In January, Lee's redshirt was pulled, competing as a true freshman instead.^[10]

After a third-place finish at the Big Ten Championships, Lee became an All-American with a fifth-place finish at the NCAA tournament, closing off the year at 32–7.^[11] Lee then competed at the U20 US World Team Trials, placing second.^[12]

During the regular season of his sophomore year, Lee claimed titles from the Southern Scuffle and Keystone Classic.^[13] 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.^[14]

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.^[15]

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.^[16] The NCAA championships were then cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving Lee, the second-seed, and all other wrestlers unable to compete.^[17]

After several months off competition, Lee won two freestyle matches at the NLWC III and NLWC IV.^[18] 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.^[19]

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.^[20]

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.^[21] 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.^[22]

Back to freestyle, Lee was unable to place at the US World Team Trials Challenge tournament in May.^[23] In November, Lee placed second at the Bill Farrell Memorial, notably defeating U23 World silver medalist Adlan Askarov in the first round.^[24]

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.^[25] 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.^[26]

At Final X, in June, Lee defeated four-time NCAA champion Yianni Diakomihalis in two close matches to make the US World Team.^[27] 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.^[28]

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.^[29]

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.^[30]

Lee then competed at the Pan American Championships later in the month, claiming the gold medal.^[31] 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.^[32]

In April, Lee 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.^[33]

Senior Freestyle Matches
Res.	Record	Opponent	Score	Date	Event	Location
2024 US Olympic Team Trials at 65 kg
Loss	36–13	Zain Retherford	0–5	April 20, 2024	2024 US Olympic Team Trials	State College, Pennsylvania
Loss	36–12	Zain Retherford	1–2
Win	36–11	Andrew Alirez	11–9	April 19, 2024
Win	35–11	Alec Pantaleo	9–2
2024 Pan American Olympic Qualification 9th at 65 kg
Loss	34–11	Austin Gomez	TF 12–22	March 1, 2024	2024 Pan American Olympic Qualification Tournament	Acapulco, Mexico
2024 Pan American Championships at 65 kg
Win		Agustin Destribats	INJ	February 24, 2024	2024 Pan American Continental Championships	Acapulco, Mexico
Win	34–10	Jacob Alexander Torres	TF 10–0
Win	33–10	Josh Kramer	TF 10–0
2024 US Pan American Qualifier at 65 kg
Win		Yianni Diakomihalis	FF	February 3, 2024	2024 US Pan American Qualifier	Denver, Colorado
Win	32–10	Yianni Diakomihalis	12–3
2023 World Championships 7th at 65 kg
Loss	31–10	Rahman Amouzad	4–7	September 18, 2023	2023 World Championships	Belgrade, Serbia
Win	31–9	Umidjon Jalolov	4–3
Win	30–9	Austin Gomez	Fall
Win	29–9	Krzysztof Bieńkowski	6–0
2023 Polyák Imre & Varga János Memorial at 65 kg
Loss	28–9	Tömör-Ochiryn Tulga	TF 0–10	July 13–16, 2023	2023 Polyák Imre & Varga János Memorial Tournament	Budapest, Hungary
Win	28–8	Islam Dudaev	6–4
Win	27–8	Alibek Osmonov	TF 10–0
Win	26–8	Josh Finesilver	TF 10–0
2023 US World Team Trials at 65 kg
Win	25–8	Yianni Diakomihalis	8–8	June 10, 2023	2023 Final X Newark	Newark, New Jersey
Win	24–8	Yianni Diakomihalis	7–6
2023 US Open at 65 kg
Win	23–8	Joseph McKenna	10–5	April 26–30, 2023	2023 US Open National Championships	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	22–8	Beau Bartlett	10–10
Win	21–8	Matthew Kolodzik	TF 12–1
Win	20–8	Jason Miranda	TF 10–0
Win	19–8	Hayden Bates	TF 10–0
2023 Grand Prix Zagreb Open 7th at 65 kg
Loss	18–8	Ismail Musukaev	TF 0–11	February 1, 2023	2023 Grand Prix Zagreb Open	Zagreb, Croatia
Win	18–7	Sebastian Rivera	TF 13–2
2022 Bill Farrell Memorial at 65 kg
Loss	17–7	Taiyrbek Zhumashbek Uulu	TF 4–14	November 18–19, 2022	2022 Bill Farrell Memorial International	New York City, New York
Win	17–6	Pat Lugo	4–0
Win	16–6	Kamol Begakov	9–2
Win	15–6	Askarov Adlan	TF 18–8
2022 US World Team Trials DNP at 65 kg
Loss	14–6	Joseph McKenna	TF 3–13	May 21–22, 2022	2022 US World Team Trials Challenge	Coralville, Iowa
Loss	14–5	Evan Henderson	11–12
Win	14–4	Matthew Kolodzik	TF 12–2
Win	13–4	Josh Saunders	10–3
2020 US Olympic Team Trials at 65 kg
Win	12–4	Yianni Diakomihalis	16–8	April 2–3, 2021	2020 US Olympic Team Trials	Fort Worth, Texas
Win	11–4	Zain Retherford	10–4
Win	10–4	Nahshon Garrett	TF 12–2
Loss	9–4	Jordan Oliver	3–8
Win	9–3	Mitch McKee	TF 14–2
Win	8–3	Tariq Wilson	14–10	December 22, 2020	NLWC IV	State College, Pennsylvania
Win	7–3	Brandon Wright	TF 10–0	November 24, 2020	NLWC III
2019 US Nationals at 65 kg
Win		Yianni Diakomihalis	FF	December 20–22, 2019	2019 US National Championships	Fort Worth, Texas
Win	6–3	Frank Molinaro	TF 10–0
Loss	5–3	Jordan Oliver	TF 0–10
Win	5–2	Joey Lazor	TF 10–0
Win	4–2	Jaydin Eierman	10–6
Win	3–2	Ethan Lizak	TF 10–0
2016 Bill Farrell Memorial DNP at 61 kg
Loss	2–2	Joey Lazor	TF 2–12	November 9–11, 2016	2016 Bill Farrell Memorial International	New York City, New York
Win	2–1	Shelton Mack	9–8
Loss	1–1	Jayson Ness	TF 0–10
Win	1–0	Alan Waters	TF 15–4

• Nick Lee at the International Wrestling Database