Spencer Lee’s college career at Iowa, which included three national championships, came to a close Friday night, and her mom, Cathy, wasn’t thrilled with the outcome.
In a clip captured by the ESPN broadcast, Cathy excitedly ripped a pair of glasses from her face and crumpled them in her hands, before tossing them aside. Lee had just lost to Purdue’s Matt Ramos in the national semifinals.
“Spencer Lee’s mother, Cathy, an alternate for the US Olympic Judo team, and her glasses did not survive that match,” said the The ESPN broadcast said.
Cathy grabbed the arm of a bystander sitting next to her and followed him by pulling her glasses off her face.
Lee’s parents were judo athletes, according to the Hawkeye Wrestling Cluband they met in training in France.
In addition to his three national titles, Lee also won two Big Ten conference championships while at Iowa, winning one in each of his four college seasons, a streak that lasted until his 2021-22 campaign ended with surgery.
But he returned as the No. 1 seed in the 125-pound class of the NCAA Championships, where he advanced in the first three meetings against fighters from the Air Force, Michigan and Lock Haven.
So Ramos emerged as the opponent who could beat Lee.
read, what had double knee surgery who shortened his 2021-22 season, would have become the first wrestler in the Hawkeyes program to win four individual national championships, according to KCRG.
He also won his third national championship while fighting with a torn ACL, telling ESPN in a post-fight interview that he “didn’t want to tell anyone, because excuses are for cowards.” according to Hawk Central.
“We had a game plan,” Ramos said after his upset victory, according to the Des Moines Register. “We train for this every day. Spencer is the guy to beat at 125. I’ve been working towards it. He has been in my head every day. I’ve been striving for it. I’m an All-American now. I’m in the national final. You have to let it fly.”
Ramos advanced to the national championship on Saturday night, where he will fight Princeton’s Patrick Glory in the 125-pound class.
