Issue 142
June 2016
Wrestling all-star Ben Askren picks his most memorable matches from the mat and MMA
1. Trevor Spencer, Wisconsin State Championships (February 2000)
It's no surprise that the most significant encounters of Askren’s combat career came on the wrestling mat: “Number one would be my first high school state title. The kid’s name was Trevor Spencer. He was from a high school called Baraboo. It’s something I’d dreamed about since fifth grade. I made the finals as a freshman and I ended up losing in overtime to another freshman who I had a big rivalry with. I came back my sophomore year and I ended up beating an undefeated kid in the finals.
“I was never considered a superstar. To win a state title over a senior who was undefeated and favored over me – was huge. Getting my hand raised was the greatest feeling in the world. It’s indescribable. When you put your whole life into something – I did at that point. I was all-in on wrestling. The feeling is hard to describe but I was lucky enough to feel it a few more times.”
2. Troy Letters, Junior Nationals (July 2001)
“I beat Troy Letters at a tournament in Fargo, North Dakota, who was the number-one kid in my weight class. He was a senior and I was a junior. He already had a scholarship to go to Lehigh (University). It wasn’t even the finals. I ended up taking fourth in the tournament but I knew I had my college scholarship.
“Sure enough, the next week my phone was ringing off the hook. I got 15-20 calls from top colleges just that next week. One of my biggest goals was getting a college scholarship. Despite the fact I had won two state championships in Wisconsin, I hadn’t placed high in any big national tournaments so I wasn’t getting interest from any major college programs. This signified the second leg of my journey was complete.”
3. Jake Herbert, NCAA Finals (March 2006)
“When I went to college the goal was to win a national title. I came up short my first two years but I lost to Chris Pendleton both times. I got so close to tasting the ultimate glory in folkstyle wrestling. There is no higher award than winning a Division I national championship. I was ranked number one going into my junior year but Jake Herbert was also undefeated. He won two NCAA national titles and the Hodge Trophy. He won a silver medal in the world championships, too. He was a legitimate challenge. I just went out there and I freaking destroyed him.
“That was the level I knew I was at. That was the level that my coaches knew I was at. That was the level my teammates knew I was at. Everyone knew I was good, but beating Jake Herbert 14-2 – that says I’m the best college wrestler in the country, regardless of division. I won the Hodge Trophy a few weeks later.”
4. Tyrone Lewis, US Olympic Trials (June 2008)
“My parents sent me to watch the Olympic trials in Dallas in 2000. At that point I had never placed in any national tournament but I got this idea that I was going to make the Olympic team. People don’t realize how difficult it is to make the US team. In some of those brackets there are six or seven guys who have won NCAA titles. It’s the best of the best of the best. In the year 2000 I set a goal to make the team. In 2004 I made the trials. In 2007, the year I graduated, I took fifth place, so I was a few spots from making the team. It was a hard year. I needed to be number one.
“I beat Tyrone Lewis to make the team. Something else people don’t realize is that the number-one guy in the United States goes. Number two, number three, number four don’t get a shot. They are sitting at home and nobody cares about them, so I had to make this jump from number five to number one in a single year. I did it. I made the Olympic team. Making the Olympic team for America was a culmination of everything else – the state titles, the national tournaments, the NCAA titles. Making the Olympic team is as high of an honor as it gets in American wrestling.”
NCAA Great: Marvel on the mat
Askren is one of the best college wrestlers ever. He boasts a 153-8 record during his four years at the University of Missouri, including an undefeated 87-0 run in his last two years. He was runner-up in his first two years, then won two national championships at 174lb and two Dan Hodge Trophies, which are awarded to the most outstanding college wrestler of the year across all weight classes. His 91 pins are the third most in NCAA history and he holds the single-season record for the most pins.
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