For Spencer Lee, this season has been about looking forward to what’s right in front of him rather than reaching too far ahead. 

The junior has very specific goals for this year, and they haven’t wavered since the season began in November. For the top 125-pounder in the nation who happens to have a wicked freestyle skillset, the Olympic Trials are less than a month away. However, that’s not what’s next. 

“Well, first thing’s first I’ve got to do what’s first,” Lee said. “NCAAs, then I’m worried about Olympic Trials. Obviously the Trials is the biggest thing for me, for my goals, but the biggest thing is what’s next and that’s the NCAA Tournament right now. Get ready for that.”

The first checkpoint in Lee’s plans for a monster 2020 passed on Sunday, as was something that he – surprisingly – hadn’t conquered yet in his career. He ran through the 125-pound bracket at the Big Ten Championships to win his first individual conference title and help Iowa win its first team championship since 2010. 

Spencer in the semifinals en route to his Big Ten final:

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“Talked all year about Marinelli, Kemerer, and Lee,” head coach Tom Brands said. “This is a big, maybe a milestone for [Lee] in his own head. He’s a competitive guy, make no mistake about that, so It means something.”

The title means a lot for Lee, setting him up as the No. 1 seed for the NCAA Championships for the first time. However, the way he did it means more in terms of his goals past the collegiate scene. 

Lee hasn’t wrestled in the third period much this season, with all but three of his matches ending early. That has sparked some speculation as to whether he can keep his foot on the gas for a full seven-minute bout. He shut down any questions about that at Big Tens. 

He was dominant during the entire title match against Purdue’s Devin Schroder, winning 16-2. Ten of those points came in the third period, and he had more than four minutes of riding time. 

“I’ve just got to keep scoring points, I’ve got to maybe open up my offense a little more. I’ve got things to improve on,” Lee said. “I think that there’s a lot of slow moments in the match, just us both kind of like working on top and bottom, probably pretty boring so maybe get back on my feet some more.”

Lee discusses his first B1G title:

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Lee’s reaction to winning a Big Ten title is to keep moving forward, because there’s still work to be done. That mirrors the focus of Iowa’s entire team.

They celebrated the Big Ten title, of course. But in a 10-year drought from standing atop the NCAA when all is said in done, there’s a hunger for more. 

“It’s a job well done; we’re not downplaying this,” Brands said. “The reason why it gets downplayed is because there is another important event. It’s cliché, but we have to get ready and there is work to do. We definitely give ourselves credit too; you don’t see what’s behind the scenes. We appreciate a job well done and that was a job well done. It was a battle.”

For almost the entire season, Iowa has been the team to beat. It didn’t show in the rankings until Penn State lost to Arizona State early in the season, but the mindset was there all along. 

“We approach the same thing every year and we think we’re the team to beat, and that’s what we’re going to do every single year out,” Lee said. “This year happens to be that we are on top, but we believe in each and every one of us. No matter what, every year is our year, and right now this year is our year.”

Anna attended the University of Iowa, where she covered multiple sports from volleyball to football to wrestling. She went to Pittsburgh in March 2019 for the NCAA DI Wrestling Championships and did live coverage of the entire event and Spencer Lee’s second-straight NCAA title. Follow her on Twitter.