Spencer Lee medically forfeits out of remaining matches of NCAA Wrestling Championships

Spencer Lee entered the weekend as the No. 1 seed and favorite to repeat as the national champion in the 125-pound weight class. Unfortunately, Lee went down in a monumental upset with Purdue’s Matt Ramos securing the pin in the semifinals.

Despite the loss, Lee still had a chance to get to the podium in Saturday’s wrestlebacks. Instead of wrestling for a shot at 3rd place, Iowa announced Saturday morning that Lee was medically forfeiting and will finish 6th by default.

“It has been a long road of a recovery for Spencer Lee. He will medically forfeit out of the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships today in Tulsa,” the Hawkeyes announced via statement.

Iowa’s Spencer Lee will medically forfeit from the tournament. He will place 6th at 125 and finish as a 5-time All-American (Including the NWCA honor in 2020). Here is the UI statement. pic.twitter.com/q96A5I7o0r

— K.J. Pilcher (@kjpilcher) March 18, 2023

“He left the arena like you normally would after your match, there was some conversation and we have good support. His family’s with him, he has great support,” said coach Tom Brands Friday night after Lee’s loss. “The cliche easy thing to say is he’s got to move on. It’s hard, this is really hard, but you’ve still got to move on. As easy as that is to say, that’s really the next step in all of this. And it seems cruel to say that because the magnitude of it is high.”

🗣️ from Coach Brands after Session IV. #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/IDFKubTO4s

— Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling (@Hawks_Wrestling) March 18, 2023

Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.