Lee Is Finalist For Sullivan Award
There were going to be four steps in the journey of Iowa wrestler Spencer Lee this season — win a Big Ten championship, win a third NCAA national championship, lead the Hawkeyes to the team title, and qualify for the Olympic team.
Lee got his first Big Ten individual title, and helped lead Iowa to a team title. His run at the NCAA championships never even got started — the event, like all of the other winter and spring championships, was canceled because of concerns over the COVID-19 coronavirus.
His Olympic dream is on hold — the U.S. Olympic wrestling trials have been postponed, and there is more and more pressure on the IOC to postpone the 2020 Games in Tokyo, with reports on Monday that a postponement has already been decided.
But Lee has a chance to pick up some of amateur athletics' highest honors.
Lee was named one of 10 finalists for the AAU James E. Sullivan Award, presented annually since 1930 to the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.
Lee’s 2019 season included his second consecutive NCAA wrestling championship and a United States Senior Nationals tournament title. He was a 2019 Academic All-Big Ten honoree and a member of the NWCA Academic All-America team.
Fans can vote for finalists by visiting aausports.org. The public voting portal is open from Monday, March 23 at 11 a.m. (CDT) through Monday, March 30 at 11 p.m. Fans can vote once per day. During the final round, hashtag voting will also count. Tweets and RTs using #VoteForSpencer and #AAUSullivanAward will count in the final tally.
The winner is determined by public vote, media vote, and committee vote.
The 10 finalists include Lee, Evita Griskenas (USA Rhythmic Gymnastics, Grant Holloway (Florida track & field), Markus Howard (Marquette basketball), Sabrina Ionescu (Oregon basketball), Trevor Lawrence (Clemson football), Dana Rettke (Wisconsin volleyball), Kyla Ross (UCLA gymnastics), Megan Taylor (Maryland Lacrosse), and Abby Weitzeil (Cal swimming & diving).
Lee is also a finalist for the Hodge Trophy, given to the top college wrestler in the nation.